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NAILING THE THESES TO THE CHURCH DOOR. 



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ARTIN "LUTHER. 



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CHARLES W.HUBNER. 




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C INC INN A Til 
HITCHCOCK AND W A L D E N . 

NEW. YORK: 

, NELSON AND PHILLIPS. 

i373- 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, 

BY HITCHCOCK & WALDEN, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 




PREFACE. 




O study within the range of the hu- 
man mind is more interesting and 
instructive, or better qualified to enno- 
ble the soul, than the study of the lives of 
men who, impelled by the Spirit of God, have 
devoted their days to the promotion of the 
spiritual welfare of their race. Such men 
illumine the era in which they live with a 
luster far brighter than the splendor of vic- 
torious arms. Their imperishable monuments 
are built upon the affections of the Christian 
heart ; reverence and love attach themselves 

to their memories with deathless fidelity. 

3 



4 PREFACE. 

The good they have done is "a thing of 
beauty and a joy forever/' emitting its holy 
light long after the glory of conquerors and 
of kings shall have been quenched in the 
darkness of the past, and their names become 
undecipherable hieroglyphics upon the crum- 
bling ruins of past ages. 

Among the grandest of all the names em- 
blazoned upon the world's roll of honor, ap- 
pears that of Martin Luther, the Father of the 
Reformation ; the moral hero ; the humble, 
God-fearing man ; the mighty warrior of the 
Cross ; the champion of truth, and slayer of 
the hydra-headed Roman dragon, whose fangs 
poisoned the life of the world. To place be- 
fore the reader a brief and truthful sketch of 
the great reformer's home and public life, as 
connected with the leading events in that 
remarkable epoch in the religious history of 
the world, has been the object of the writei. 
He believes that many who would shrink from 
the task of perusing the elaborate 'and pon- 



PREFACE. 5 

derous historical and polemical works referring 
to this period, will avail themselves of these 
condensed pages, deriving from their contents 
at least some of the profit which must accrue 
from the study of the lives of such men as 
Luther. 

In this spirit, the volume is dedicated to 
the public by 

The Author. 





p 



ONTENTS, 



CHAPTER. PAGE. 

I. Luther's Birth and Boyhood, ... 9 
II. Luther an Augustixiax Monk, . . 14 

III. Removal to Wittenberg and Journey to 

Rome, 17 

IV. Spiritual Struggles and Triumphs, . 26 
V. Gross Superstitions of the Age — Luther's 

Famous " Theses," 30 

VI. Melanchthon — The Gathering Storm — 

Cardinal Cajetan, 37 

VII. Luther vs. Eck — Luther's Excommunica- 
tion — He burns the Pope's Bull, . . 47 
VIII. Luther appears before the Diet at 

Worms, 54 

IX. Luther waylaid by his Friends — The 

Wartburg Asylum, . . - . . .63 
X. Luther leaves the Wartburg — False 

Prophets, 75 

7 



8 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER. FAGE. 

XI. Luther as Husband, Father, and Friend, 8i 
XII. A Characteristic Letter — His Wife and 

Children, . .90 

XIII. Christmas in Luther's Home — Death of 
Magdalena, . v 97 

XIV. Luther's Catechism — The Diet at Spire 

in 1529 — Results, ...... 104 

XV. Years of Trial and Affliction — Luther's 

Hymns, 109 

XVI. Death of Luther — His Funeral — Scenes 

and Incidents, 124 

XVII. Reminiscences of Wartburg and Wit- 
tenberg, ...... 131 

XVIII. The Luther Monument in Worms, . . 145 



I ILLUSTRATIONS. 



FACE PAGE 

Nailing the Theses to the Church Door, Frontispiece. 
Luther at Rome, . . . . . . .18 

Luther leaving the Wartburg, ... 76 

The Luther Monument at Worms, . . .145 



Historical Souvenirs. 



CHAPTER I. 



LUTHER'S BIRTH AND BOYHOOD. 




1ARTIN LUTHER was born in the 
pleasant little town of Eisleben, in 
the Electorate of Saxony, on the 
tenth day of November, 1483. He was bap- 
tized on the following day, which, happening 
to be St. Martin's day, furnished his happy 
parents with a proper baptismal name. His 
father's name was Hans Luther. He. was 
originally from Moehra, in Thuringia, and fol- 
lowed the arduous occupation of a miner. 
He was very poor, but was noted for his 



10 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

extreme piety. Luther himself says : " My 
father was a poor, hard-working miner, and 
my mother used to gather the fuel necessary 
for the family in the neighboring woods, and 
carry the load home upon her back. Both of 
them worked like slaves for their daily bread. ,, 
Happily, an improvement in the condition 
of the family took place, by reason of the pro- 
motion of Hans Luther to the overseership 
of a brace of furnaces attached to the mines, 
and the consequent increase of wages was 
religiously applied by the old man to the 
education of his little son Martin. He used 
to carrv him to school in his arms, as the 
child was weak and delicate in body, and the 
distance from their home to the school-house 
too great for him to walk. In 1497, when 
fourteen years old, Martin was sent to the 
celebrated school at Magdeburg, but in the 
following year he was removed to the school 
at Eisenach, in which town several of his 
mother's friends resided. 



MARTIN LUTHER. II 

Here, as well as at Magdeburg, little Mar- 
tin,- in company with a number of other so- 
called "pauper scholars," earned a scanty 
subsistence by singing hymns upon the streets 
and in the public places of the town. The 
boy's noble bearing, and the fervent, enthusi- 
astic manner in w T hich he sang his little hymns, 
attracted the attention of a benevolent and 
pious lady, the wife of a wealthy citizen named 
Cotta, who took him into her house. Under 
her hospitable roof the boy was sheltered and 
fed for a long time. 

After a residence of four years in Eisenach, 
Martin Luther, in 1502, was allowed to enter 
the famous University of Erfurt, where his 
.diligence and studious habits, as well as his 
rapid progress in every branch of human 
knowledge, excited the wonder of his con- 
temporaries. We shall marvel less at this sur- 
prising and gratifying evidence of success in 
young Luther, when we remember that he 
never failed to invoke Divine aid and blessing 



12 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

in fervent prayer at the beginning of every 
day's task. His motto was: "A prayerful 
spirit smooths the rough path of study, and 
serves to remove half of its weight." 

It was in Erfurt that the young and devout 
student became possessed of a treasure of far 
greater value to him than all the riches of the 
earth could have been to him ; namely, the 
Bible, which, until this time, as he himself 
says, in one of his letters, he had never seen 
before. He found the sacred Book in the 
great library of the University, and at once 
began to study its divine truths with so much 
diligence and care, that young Luther soon 
became noted as a very bright and promising 
theologian. His parents, however, wanted 
him to pursue the study of law. A great 
conflict was going on in the heart of the de- 
vout student, and his mind became imbued 
with the results of continuous meditations upon 
the "wrath of God, and the terrors of Judg- 
ment-day." An incident which occurred to 



MARTIN LUTHER. 13 

him about this time, also had a deep effect 
upon his impressible spirit. Going to the 
room of his college-mate and intimate friend, 
Alexius, early one morning, he found the lat- 
ter lying dead upon his bed, murdered by the 
hand of an assassin. Rushing horror-stricken 
from the fearful scene into the open air, a sud- 
den flash of lightning blinds his sight moment- 
arily, and an instantaneous crash of thunder 
causes him to reel senseless to the ground. 
On recovering from his stupor, the impression 
made upon his soul by these events was too 
deep and lasting to be neglected or removed. 
The imminence of death forced upon him the 
conviction of the perils attending an uncon- 
verted heart, and the urgent necessity for such 
an one to seek the way to salvation. 



*3&i|S 



CHAPTER II. 



LUTHER BECOMES AN AUGUSTINIAN MONK. 




] ELIEVING that nothing could more 
effectually contribute to the restora- 
tion of his peace of mind than the 
seclusion and sanctity of a monastery, Luther 
determined to become a monk ; and, in the 
pursuance of this object, he entered the Con- 
vent of St. Augustine, belonging to the order 
of Dominican monks. This occurred on the 
17th of July, 1505, when Luther had entered 
the twenty-second year of his age. He sub- 
jected himself devoutly to all the severe dis- 
cipline and rigors demanded by the rules of 
the order. But notwithstanding all the fasting, 
penance, vigils, and other authorized mortifi- 



MARTIN LUTHER. I 5 

cations of body and soul which he inflicted 
upon himself systematically, Luther failed to 
find that peculiar spiritual peace for which he 
so deeply yearned. He did not then know 
that this Divine blessing is not attainable 
simply through works, but exclusively by the 
grace of God, through faith. 

The good counsel and admonitions of an 
old man and fellow-member of the order, 
were the first means to direct Luthur into 
the true path. While the latter was pros- 
trated with sickness, caused by the intensity 
and severity of his monastic penances, and 
suffering much mental anguish, his aged friend 
dispelled much of the gloom that seemed to 
rest around the soul of the novice, by urging 
upon his attention the comforting assurances 
contained in the Holy Scriptures concerning 
the remission of sins. He also reminded him 
that, though all men are guilty in the sight 
of God, yet they are freely justified by his 
grace, through the redemption in Christ 



1 6 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

Jesus ; therefore, they who believe in the ef- 
ficacy of the blood of the Redeemer are jus- 
tified by faith, without the deeds of the law. 
The words of his venerable teacher soothed 
and cheered the troubled soul of Luther, and 
shed upon his darkened heart the mild glory 
of an immortal faith. The justification of 
man through the power of faith, without ref- 
erence to works, became henceforth the guid- 
ing religious principle of Luther's life, by 
means of which he achieved his most signal 
triumphs; as he himself says, "I overcame 
the Pope, and all his doctrine and power." 

Having thus been prepared for the impor- 
tant work for which the Divine will had des- 
tined him, the same Omniscient Power pre- 
pared the means by which Luther was to 
quit the fruitless solitude of a monk's cell for 
the rich and illimitable fields of public use- 
fulness. 




m 



CHAPTER III. 

REMOVAL TO WITTENBERG, AND JOURNEY TO 
ROME. 

[REDERICK, surnamed the Wise, the 
reigning Elector of Saxony, a few 
years before this period, had founded 
the University of Wittenberg. At the request 
of the elector, Luther accepted a call, and 
assumed a professorship in the new Univer- 
sity. Shortly after this event — that is, in the 
year 15 12 — Luther had the title of Doctor of 
Divinity conferred upon him, and as such 
took a solemn oath " faithfully to preach and 
teach, in all purity, the doctrines of Holy 
Writ, even unto the end of life." This oath 

he never violated. His devotion to truth, and 

2 17 



1 8 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

his loyalty to the Divine precepts of the Bible, 
never faltered, no matter how great the temp- 
tation to infringe upon a strict construction 
of these principles might have been, or how- 
ever imminent the danger of personal violence 
at the hands of his foes, to which he rendered 
himself liable. 

In the year 1510, Luther visited Rome on 
business connected with the order of Augus- 
tinian monks, of which he was still a prom- 
inent member. During his residence in the 
" Eternal City," the observant German monk 
had abundant opportunities to witness the de- 
pravity of the Roman priesthood, and the un- 
bounded corruption of the Pope and his 
hierarchy. 

Speaking of this journey, Luther says, "I 
would not take a hundred thousand florins for 
all that I have learned while in Rome." 

In fact, this pilgrimage of Luther to the 
footstool of the Holy Father was of incalcu- 
lable value in its consequences. The facts 



MARTIN LUTHER. 1 9 

gathered in this great reservoir of Papal in- 
iquities, contributed largely toward the per- 
fection of those foundations of the true faith 
upon which the Great Reformer thereafter 
stood, immovable under the frowns of prelates 
and of kings, unaffected by the thunders of the 
Vatican or the threats of instant death. It 
nerved his strong arm in defense of Gospel 
truth, and added keenness to the sword of his 
intellect, wherewith he clove, to the very core, 
the hu°;e and festering bodv of intolerance 
and fanaticism then infecting the world. 

Luther undertook the journey to Rome at 
that time with more than ordinary interest, 
being engaged, in his duties as professor, in 
expounding the Epistle of Paul to the Ro- 
mans ; and his inquiring spirit was filled with 
the importance of that declaration of the in- 
spired writer which says, " The just shall live 
by faith." (Romans i, 17.) He believed that, 
by visiting the "Holy City" and its numer- 
ous sanctuaries, by pious meditation before its 



20 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

shrines, and other acts of devotion under the 
shadow of the Chair of St. Peter, he would 
acquire that quietness of heart and peace of 
conscience for which he so ardently yearned. 
He also entertained the prevailing notion of 
the times, that the nearer a person could live 
to Rome, the better the favored individual 
would be in every religious respect, and that 
to live in Rome, the seat of the "Holy Fa- 
ther " himself, must be equivalent to a res- 
idence in heaven ! 

But when Luther, after a long and weary 
journey, beheld the reality, how great was the 
deluded man's disappointment ! how effectual 
and complete the disenchantment of the as- 
tonished, simple-hearted German priest ! 

He found that the highest offices in the 
Church were bought and sold like so many 
yards of cloth, and the most responsible ec- 
clesiastical positions at the mercy of any hyp- 
ocritical rascal whose purse happened to be 
well filled. He found vice, in every conceiv- 



MARTIN LUTHER. 21 

able shape, publicly indulged in by a degraded 
populace, and that in Rome, more than any- 
where else, the most shameless profligacy and 
debauchery obtained among the clergy, of 
whom but one in a hundred could celebrate 
mass with a decent degree of Christian 
solemnity. 

Luther says: "I was often present in the 
churches during mass, and shudder when I 
remember the sacrilegious proceedings. I was 
disgusted to see the priests hurrying through 
the offices of their holy function in such a 
helter-skelter style, as if the whole thing was 
a Punch-and-Judy show at a village fair. Be- 
fore I could get to the Evangelio, they had 
already rushed to the end of the entire serv- 
ices, and would cry to me, Passa ! passu ! — - 
hurry ! hurry !" 

Even during meals, he would hear some of 
the clergy mock at the sanctity of the Lord's- 
supper. The Pope and the cardinals, whom 
Luther had supposed he w r ould find to be the 



22 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

most devout and God-fearing of men, he found 
to be, on the contrary, rather the leaders of 
heresy, as well as promoters and abettors of a 
carnal and godless mode of life. 

The " infallible " head of the Roman Church 
at this period was Pope Julius II, who prided 
himself upon his military achievements, and 
even led his cohorts in person against the 
army of Louis XIII of France, with whom 
he was engaged in a deadly feud concerning 
the extent and prerogatives of the Pontiff's 
temporal power. 

The predecessor of Julius was Pope Alex- 
ander VI, who occupied the Papal throne 
during the years 1492-1503, and who is noto- 
rious in history as one of the most profligate 
of the occupants of the Vatican, guilty of 
inexpressible vices, and even the crime of 
murder. In short, all that Luther saw and 
experienced, while living in Rome, was wholly 
contrary to every thing he had expected to find 
there, and demolished at a blow the entire 



MARTIN LUTHER. 23 

imaginary fabric of holiness which he had 
conceived to be visible in the capital of 
Christendom. 

Still urged by the power of hereditary faith, 
and in his efforts to be a good and orthodox 
Catholic, Luther strove manfully against these 
overpowering and disheartening influences. 
He kept himself actively employed, and, with 
the view of reviving the dying flame of ortho- 
dox Church enthusiasm, he visited habitually 
the shrines of the saints, and other reputed 
holy places of the city. 

Luther says : " I, too, was one of those mad 
saints who rush around Rome, and crawl about 
the churches and miraculous grottoes there, 
believing all the lies that are told about them. 
While in Rome, I officiated in the celebration 
of ten masses, and doubtless, too, would have 
worked with pleasure in the way of supplica- 
tions, masses, and other precious acts, to get 
father and mother out of purgatory, had they 
been dead instead of living." 



24 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

His conscience, however, was still unsatis- 
fied, and the doctrine of the remissions of sin 
perplexed him greatly. Among many other 
fables dished up by the Roman priests, to 
stuff the maw of the credulous populace, was 
the so-called " Staircase of Pilate." This, the 
priests averred, was the very staircase before 
the house of Pilate, in Jerusalem, upon which 
our Savior stood when the Roman Governor 
presented him to the assembled Jews with the 
words, " Ecce homo!" By a Bull, the Pope 
had declared that any one who would ascend 
these miraculous stairs upon his knees, piously 
muttering a particular prayer upon every step, 
he or she should have full absolution for all 
sins, in time and eternity ! 

Luther, still impressed with the supposed 
truth and efficacy of these edicts of the Pope, 
faithfully undertook and accomplished the feat 
of climbing the wonderful Pilate stairs upon his 
knees. But it failed to accomplish the result 
he so fervently anticipated ; his heart remained 



MARTIN LUTHER. 2$ 

unsatisfied, his yearning spirit unappeasecl. 
The doctrine of man's justification through 
faith remained the constant theme of his 
meditations. Though the meaning and full 
bearing of this truth was still clouded, the 
great principle upon which it is based never 
forsook his soul. Dissatisfied, and hungering 
after truth, Luther departed from Rome, after 
having disposed of the business of his order 
to the satisfaction of his superiors. 





CHAPTER IV. 



SPIRITUAL STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPH. 




N his journey home, Luther fell dan- 
gerously sick at Bologna, and was 
overcome, for a time, with a profound 
melancholy, which threatened to consume him. 
Nevertheless, the holy and soothing light of 
the truth and beauty of the Scriptures pene- 
trated the gloom of these sad and evil days, 
and the power and manifestations of God grew 
and flourished in his heart. When he had 
safely returned to Wittenberg, Luther devoted 
himself with still greater diligence and fervor 
to the study of the question of man's justifi- 
cation through faith. His soul grew stronger 

in this propitious spiritual struggle, and the 
26 



MARTIN LUTHER. 2J 

fervency of his belief deepened and broadened, 
and rose triumphantly higher and higher from 
day to day, as he succeeded in comprehending 
the Divine purpose, and held in his firmer 
grasp the golden chain of meaning extending 
from the heart of man even unto the throne 
of the Infinite. 

He found that a troubled spirit, and a heart 
yearning for salvation, can only attain rest 
and peace by the exercise of child-like trust 
in the wisdom and beneficence of Jehovah, 
and by solacing itself with the knowledge that 
the Lord Jesus Christ died for all men, and 
that he is the Lamb of God which taketh 
away the sin of the world. He began to un- 
derstand, clearly and fully, that man can not 
encompass the remission of his sins by his 
own works, but that the sins of every penitent 
heart are alone forgiven by the grace of God, 
through the redeeming blood of the Savior, 
and that this all-sufficient grace can be reached 
through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He 



28 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

comprehended the difference between the Law 
and the Gospel — how that the Law promulgates 
inexorable decrees, with the demand "You 
shall !" whereas the blessed Gospel extends to 
all men the olive-branch of everlasting peace ; 
drawing man to his Creator, under the direc- 
tion of the Holy Ghost, and through the per- 
suasion of Mercy and Love; strengthening 
the soul with the divine power of a living 
Redeemer, so that God's free grace may enter, 
and the believer, by means of these instru- 
mentalities, may, through new paths of truth, 
reach the blissful shore of everlasting life. 

Luther, speaking of this eventful epoch in 
his spiritual life, says: "I felt that I was born 
again, and that I had discovered a wide and 
open door, allowing me to penetrate into par- 
adise itself. I viewed the Holy Scriptures in 
a far different light from what I had formerly 
done, and through this discovered the true way 
to everlasting happiness." 

Thus we find that this great and noble man 



MARTIN LUTHER. 29 

arrived at the state in which his heart was en- 
abled to enjoy the fruition of Gospel truths, 
firstly, by means of the strictly pious training 
which he had received, as a child, at the hands 
of religious and conscientious parents ; and, 
furthermore, by the brave manner in which he 
bore up under the crosses and burdens of life, 
by the sincerity of his efforts to secure salva- 
tion, and by experiencing the efficacy of re- 
pentance, through which he found the peace 
contained in Christ, and with this peace the 
new life of the Spirit, " the power of God unto 
salvation to every one that believeth." In 
this way, by first renewing and reforming him- 
self, was Luther called and prepared to renew 
and reform the living Church of Christ. 





CHAPTER V. 



GROSS SUPERSTITIONS OF THE AGE— LU- 
THER'S FAMOUS "THESES." 




UTHER was obliged to be extremely 

cautious in his first endeavors to rid 

the Church of some of the grossest 

errors and superstitions then befouling it, and 

to attack the prejudices industriously fostered 

by a corrupt priesthood. The ramifications of 

the evil were so tenaciously intertwined with 

the life and habits of the people, and the 

clergy manipulated the feelings and fancies of 

the ignorant masses so skillfully, to further 

their own selfish purposes, that a wily study 

of details, and the utmost circumspection in 

attack and defense, were essential to insure 
3° 



MARTIN LUTHER. 3 I 

even the slightest success at reform, — and 
here again, a happy concatenation of circum- 
stances transpired to assist Luther's design. 

Dr. Staupitz, the vicar-general of the order, 
was compelled, at this time, 15 16, to under- 
take a protracted journey into the Nether- 
lands on official business. He authorized 
Luther to make the usual annual tour of 
inspection in his place, among the forty mon- 
asteries connected with the order in the prin- 
cipalities of Meissen and Thuringia. In the 
discharge of this important duty, Luther found 
every-where the most profound ignorance and 
turpitude. Religion existed in name, but not 
in fact. The daily life of the common clergy, 
and that of their still more degraded parish- 
ioners, was spent in a series of fastings, pil- 
grimages to miraculous shrines, and the 
idolatrous worship of images. A barbarous, 
absurd, and vicious system of monkish ritual- 
ism had taken complete possession of the 
public mind. Deeply grieved and mortified 



32 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

at what he saw, Luther endeavored to mitigate 
these evils by all the means in his power. 
He established schools, lectured, and preached, 
and strove by word and deed to inculcate sin- 
cere Christian worship, and to impress upon 
his hearers the necessity of reading the Bible 
and obeying its laws. 

About this time an itinerant " huckster of 
indulgences/' named Tetzel, appeared in the 
vicinity of Wittenberg. This person's voca- 
tion will be understood when it is remembered 
that the Pope had shamelessly concluded to 
sell his supposed divine power to remit the 
sins of the world, to any one who desired to 
retail that desirable privilege among the faith- 
ful. In this manner he made profitable mer- 
chandise out of his acknowledged infallibility 
as the pretended Vicar of God upon earth, and 
sold the agency at so much a slip to any 
ecclesiastical huckster who might desire to 
obtain a livelihood by hawking the Pope's " in- 
dulgence grants " around the country. This 



MARTIN LUTHER. 33 

fellow, Tetzel, was one of the vilest of this 
herd of Papal " drummers." He harangued 
crowds upon the highways and every market- 
place, guaranteeing to every purchaser of his 
11 indulgences," in the name of the Holy 
Roman Father, complete remission of all sins, 
past, present, or to come ; no matter if the 
crime committed, or to be committed, be theft, 
adultery, robbery, or murder. Tetzel pro- 
claimed his motto to be : 

" So bald der Groschen im Kasten klingt 
Die Seele in den Himmel springt !" 

which, literally translated, means that as soon 
as the pennies drop into the money-chest, the 
soul will go to heaven. This was a sweet and 
tempting morsel to the vulgar and vicious 
masses, and great crowds from Wittenberg and 
the surrounding villages visited Tetzel's booth. 
Whenever these people appeared before Luther 
in the confessional, and he began to rebuke 
them for their wickedness and licentious hab- 
its, they would reply to his counsels with the 

3 



34 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

utmost impudence, saying : " We need no con- 
fession ; because we have the Pope's authority 
to do as we please. The Holy Father's agent 
has sold us indulgence. We are released from 
all penalty for sin, as you call it, now or in 
the future. Tetzel's papers are sufficient." 
Luther, incensed at such hypocrisy and fraud, 
as well as profoundly grieved at seeing the 
poor people swindled in such an outrageous 
manner, at once began to denounce Tetzel 
from the pulpit. But as this failed to have the 
desired effect, and Tetzel retaliated by de- 
nouncing Luther as an arch-heretic, who ought 
to be burned at the stake, and striving in every 
possible way to inflame the passions of the ig- 
norant against the honest preacher, Luther 
determined to write his famous " Theses," con- 
taining ninety-five clear and distinct theolog- 
ical propositions, to prove that Papal indul- 
gence, or remission of punishment for sin, was 
a fraudulent and ungodly thing, and in which 
he furthermore rebukes and denounces many 



MARTIN LUTHER. 35 

other abuses and errors of the Roman Church. 
This celebrated document, in Luther's own 
handwriting, was publicly posted, by himself, 
upon the door of the cathedral in Wittenberg, 
on the thirty-first of October, 1517. To the 
"Theses "was attached a paper containing a 
challenge to any one, priest or layman, to 
debate the questions involved in them pub- 
licly, so that the charges preferred by the 
writer against the clergy and the abuses of 
the Church, might be ventilated, the truth 
vindicated, and the spiritual welfare of the 
people secured. No one accepted the bold 
challenge. The news of Luther's daring at- 
tack upon the doctrine of the Mother Church 
and the hereditary usages and privileges of 
the Papal dominion, spread like wild-fire, and 
the substance of his theological pronuncia- 
mento, in the words of an old historian, "flew 
throughout all Christendom as if the angels 
themselves were the messengers and bearers 
thereof." Soon Luther's name was upon every 



36 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

tongue, and his "Theses" the theme of min- 
gled praise and censure. 

Thus had Luther, the champion of Chris- 
tianity, entered the arena, a poor monk, to 
wrestle with the Pope, the spiritual ruler of 
the world, the supreme arbiter in the affairs of 
empires. But he entered the conflict fear- 
lessly, calmly, conscious of Divine assistance, 
and buoyed by his implicit trust in a final 
victory. 



CHAPTER VI. 



MELANCHTHON— THE GATHERING STORM- 
CARDINAL CAJETAN. 




UTHER, in his efforts to reform the 
Church, had the assistance of tried 
and eloquent friends, to whose efforts 
the cause of truth and religion is deeply in- 
debted. Chief among these illustrious men is 
to be named Philip Melanchthon, born Feb- 
ruary 1 6, 1497, at Bretten, in the Palatinate, 
now the Grand Duchy, of Baden. The parents 
of Melanchthon were humble and very pious 
people, and the fruits of their Christian train- 
ing were abundantly apparent in the life of 
their gifted and noble son. Melanchthon dis- 
tinguished himself by his studious habits and 

37 



38 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

wonderful progress in all the branches of hu- 
man knowledge while at school, and became a 
professor in the University of Wittenberg in 
his twenty-first year. Luther says of him, 
"Although but a mere boy in appearance, I 
freely admit that he surpasses me in learning, 
and I will befriend and defend him as long as 
I live." Not only did the erudite Melanchthon 
assist his friend and colaborer, Luther, by 
means of his profound theological knowledge 
and powerful pen, but he also exerted a great 
and salutary influence over the naturally im- 
petuous temper of his illustrious friend, sooth- 
ing the turbulent emotions of his mighty spirit 
by means of his own childlike tenderness and 
cool, persuasive eloquence. 

Luther's protest against the abuse of Papal 
power, and his denouncement of the errors of 
the Roman Church, permeated the land with 
surprising rapidity. The pamphlet was dis- 
tributed in countless numbers, and translated 
into various languages. This was one of the 



MARTIN LUTHER. 39 

immediate and noteworthy results of that in- 
estimable blessing of civilization, the art of 
printing, whose power, though just sprung 
into life, was already beginning to be felt with 
marked effect throughout the world. Multi- 
tudes, who had become tired of the despotic 
yoke of a profligate priesthood, and the crush- 
ing pow r er of dictatorial Rome, rejoiced at the 
event, and were loud in their admiration of 
the frank and courageous denouncer of super- 
stition and wrong. Others, again, dreaded 
the serious consequences that might follow, 
and the cruel persecution that would pursue 
and crush the daring innovator. A simulta- 
neous howl of execration arose from the ad- 
herents of the Papacy, and prelates and priests 
denounced Luther as an infamous heretic. 
The notorious Tetzel caused Luther's pam- 
phlet to be burned in public, and demanded 
that its author be thrown into the flames 
along with his sacrilegious work. Many of 
the leading priests of the realm, among them 



40 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

prominently the Dominican monk, Sylvester 
Prierias, violently attacked Luther through 
the press. Thus, at once, were fierce factions 
arrayed against each other. Finally, rumors 
of the difficulty reached Rome. But Luther 
remained calm and unmoved. To the anxious 
inquiries of his friends he replied, " If this 
work has not been begun in the Lord's name, 
it will soon be destroyed : but if it is begun 
in his name, and for his glory, let Jehovah 
reign." 

However, it should be well understood that 
Luther, at this particular time, did not con- 
template a general and thorough reformation 
of the Church. His first object was to. remove 
a glaring blemish, an un scriptural and vicious 
construction of doctrinal truths, from the rec- 
ords of the Holy Mother Church ; to restore 
the worship at its altars to its original purity; 
and, by so doing, to serve its acknowledged 
Head. Luther sincerely believed that the 
honor and dignity of the Holy Father had 



MARTIN LUTHER. 4 1 

been seriously compromised and violated, by 
this shameless and wanton traffic in the Pope's 
"indulgences," in connection with the immoral 
doctrines preached to the people by those who 
made it a business to peddle them through- 
out the realm. He even sent a copy of his 
tract against this abuse to the Pope, assuring 
him that great trouble and harm was being 
done by these creatures, and that such a thing 
certainly was being effected without the Holy 
Father's knowledge and permission. But Lu- 
ther's modest and respectful epistle had but a 
very sorry reception at the court of infallibility 
in Rome. It was at once determined to make 
the audacious rebel against Papal authority to 
feel the weight of its arm, and the terror of its 
frown. Pope Julius ordered his arrest and de- 
livery before the Roman ecclesiastical tribunal. 
But, through the interposition of Luther's ex- 
cellent sovereign, the Elector of Saxony, it was 
finally decreed that the investigation of the 
case should take place in Germany. The Pope 



42 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

ordered Cardinal Cajetan, his embassador to 
the German Court, and who was then residing 
in the city of Augsburg, to bring Luther to 
that place and try him for his offense. Luther 
was summoned in due form, and, in spite of 
the advice of many anxious friends, immedi- 
ately accepted the citation. To his friends he 
said : " What have I to lose ? My house is in 
order. Nothing remains but my frail body. 
Should they take that, they will probably de- 
prive me of a few hours of earthly existence, 
but they can not touch my soul." He performed 
the journey to within three miles of Augsburg 
on foot, where, owing to physical suffering, he 
was compelled to engage a countryman and 
his wagon. to take him to the city, where he 
arrived on the 7th of October, 15 18. 

The cardinal, in a note couched in the most 
urbane and flattering terms, requested Luther 
to appear before him at once ; but, having been 
warned by friends to be very careful of his 
person, Luther refused the audience unless 



MARTIN LUTHER. 43 

protected by an imperial safe-guard, which was 
at last reluctantly granted. Well was it for 
Luther that affectionate and shrewd friends 
watched over him, for the cardinal had been 
instructed to secure him at all hazards, and to 
render him harmless for the future, either by 
imprisonment or death. Thrice did the wily 
cardinal put the sturdy and conscientious 
monk upon trial, in order to convict him of 
error or heresy ; or, if possible, to contradict 
him through the Bible, the only book upon 
which Luther proposed to base his defense. 

The cardinal flatly demanded, at last, that 
Luther should recant, and cease teaching his 
obnoxious doctrine, provided he desired to es- 
cape imminent and condign punishment. But 
Luther declared, " I have subordinated my will 
to the will of my Heavenly Father, and if I 
had a hundred heads, instead of one, I would 
rather lose them all than to abjure the doc- 
trines of the true faith." 

Only through the strenuous exertions of 



44 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

friends and the grace of Providence did Lu- 
ther escape for the present the danger that 
threatened his liberty, as well as his life. 

However, it was not in the programme of 
his foes to give this liberal-ideaed agitator 
rest. Only the means used to compass his 
final destruction were changed. The harsh 
exercise of ecclesiastical authority was changed 
to cajolery and inquisitorial cunning.. 

The Pope determined to confer upon the 
stanch friend of Luther, Frederick of Saxony, 
the anointed order of the Golden Rose, and 
delegated his chamberlain, the astute Carl 
von Millitz, to be the bearer of the bauble, to 
the Saxon Court. The Pope instructed the 
embassador to make the formal presentation 
of the order the occasion for a request from 
him for the delivery of the person of Luther 
into the hands of the Roman authorities, or at 
least to endeavor to effect a change in the 
opinions of the prince in favor of the Pope's 
designs. The result of all these machinations 



MARTIN LUTHER. 45 

was, that Luther, in January, 15 19, was com- 
pelled to meet the smiling, crafty Roman 
courtier at the Residence in Altenburg, and, 
finally, to promise that he would allow the 
matter to rest for the present, and to cease 
the publication of his denunciatory tracts 
against Tetzel and his adherents. 

Luther promised this upon condition that 
his opponents remain silent, and cease, as he 
expressed it, to " goad him ;" but under no 
pressure or condition whatever could Luther 
be prevailed upon to recant what he had 
taught concerning the Gospel. His steadfast 
reply was, " I have only taught the truth." 

But it is evident that Providence had de- 
creed a far different result from that proposed 
to be encompassed by the priest-power of 
Rome. The truce entered into at Altenburg 
by the Pope's embassador and the humble 
monk Luther, did not suit the vindictive 
priesthood of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, 
nor did it for a moment influence them to 



4 6 



HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 



desist from hurling anathemas upon Luther's 
teachings, and the vilest sort of slanders upon 
himself. In this way did they become un- 
willing instruments, in the hands of an all- 
wise Providence, for the propagation of the 
very truths they were endeavoring to crush 
with such indecent rage. 



CHAPTER VII. 

LUTHER vs. ECK— LUTHER'S EXCOMMUNICA- 
TION—HE BURNS THE POPE'S BULL. 




p^R. ECK, Professor in the University 
of Ingolstadt, and the most learned 
of all Luther's opponents, challenged 
him to a public debate upon all the disputed 
doctrinal points, the disputation to take place 
in one of the public halls of Leipzig. Luther 
could not, nor would, had he been able to do 
so, evade the challenge. He accepted it forth- 
with, and met his renowned opponent as 
agreed. For three weeks, from June the 27th 
to July 17th, 1 5 19, did this gigantic intellec- 
tual struggle continue between the opposing 

theological champions. The great hall of the 

47 



48 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

University of Leipzig was daily crowded by 
multitudes attracted by the novel spectacle, 
and deeply interested in its consequences. 
Finally, public acclamation unanimously de- 
cided the complete triumph of Luther over 
the crest-fallen champion of the Papacy, Rev. 
Dr. Eck. 

Chagrined and incensed, Eck immediately 
hurried to Rome, and succeeded in persuading 
the Pope to issue a Bull, or proclamation, de- 
claring the contumacious Luther and all who 
would believe in his heresies, excommunicated ; 
that is, deprived of all communion with the 
Church, void of honor, subject to the loss of 
all worldly goods, and deprived of the right to 
hold office. The effect of the Pope's Bull 
was not entirely satisfactory to the dominant 
Church party and the bitter enemies of the 
Reformer. Eck, who had been the prime in- 
stigator of this affair, on his return to Ger- 
many, was sometimes obliged to secrete him- 
"self or avoid certain localities in order to 



MARTIN LUTHER. 49 

escape violent public demonstrations of cen- 
sure upon himself, and in many parts of the 
country the civil authorities failed to proclaim 
the Papal decree, or, if posted in the market 
places, it was torn to pieces by the infuriated 
populace. At other points, however, such as 
Lowen, Cologne, and Mayence, the Pope's 
Bull was received w T ith joy and enthusiasm, 
and Luther's writings were burned with in- 
tense satisfaction in the public squares of those 
cities. 

During all this tumultuous period, Luther 
himself did not remain idle. He not only re- 
fused to acknowledge the validity of the ban, 
but immediately published a sharp and vigor- 
ous rejoinder, under the title, " Concerning 
Eck's New T Bulls and Lies." In this pamphlet 
Luther demonstrated so clearly and conclu- 
sively the wicked intentions of the Pope's 
edict, and the falsehood of its statements, that 
many persons who had hitherto held them- 
selves aloof began to see the true merits of 



5<D HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

- 

the controversy, and sided with the friends of 
truth and enlightenment. They insisted that 
it was the duty of the Pope to recall his un- 
wise and distorted Bull, and to punish Eck for 
his presumptuous interference in the matter. 
It was argued that unless the Pope would pur- 
sue this course without delay, it would prove 
him recreant to his spiritual duty, the enemy 
of God, the persecutor of Christ and his 
Church, and far more dangerous to its inter- 
ests than the veriest infidel could be. Says a 
contemporary writer, " Verily, heretofore has 
our holy faith never been denounced in as 
hellish and accursed a manner as is done in 
this blasphemous Bull." 

Luther, exasperated by the cruel denuncia- 
tion of himself and the wholesale destruction 
of his writings by the priestly faction, deter- 
mined to prove to the world " how easy it is to 
burn books ;" consequently, he caused procla- 
mation to be made, in due form, to the Univer- 
sity of Wittenberg and the townsmen, that, 



MARTIN LUTHER. 5 1 

"on the tenth day of December, at the hour 
of nine o'clock in the morning, the antichris- 
tian decrees of the Pope would be destroyed 
publicly by fire." At the time appointed,. the 
pyre was accordingly erected near the Elster 
Gate of the town, and in the presence of the 
professors and students of the University and 
a large concourse of citizens, Luther solemnly 
proceeded to throw into the flames the statutes 
concerning the infallibility of the Pope, the 
ecclesiastical laws defining the rights and im- 
munities of the Roman Catholic clergy, and 
the Pope's Bull against himself. He performed 
the act with the words, " Because thou hast 
presumed to trouble and harass the servants of 
the Most High, be thou, therefore, troubled 
and destroyed by fire everlasting." The writ- 
ings of some of Luther's chief opponents, such 
as Eck and Emsa, were also made to feed the 
flames. 

Thus, in the eyes of all liberal-minded men, 
had just and deserved expression been given 



52 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

to the popular estimate in which the corrupt 
canonical laws enforced by the Pope and his 
clergy were held — laws as disgraceful to the 
Church as they were blasphemous in the sight 
of Heaven. Some of these canons gave ex- 
pression to views such as these : " The Pope 
and his associates are not required to obey, 
nor are they bound to become subject to, God's 
commandments ;" and, " If the Pope, through 
his own wickedness, should cause multitudes 
to fall into the bottomless pit, yet would no 
one have the right to punish him," etc. 

Still, the unprecedented temerity of Luther's 
revolt against the authority of the Papal throne 
caused an immense sensation every-where, and 
the news of his bold action penetrated to every 
part of the Christian world. As a general 
thing, Luther's course was applauded, meeting 
with especial, although secret, favor at the 
courts of various minor sovereigns, who be- 
lieved that the time had now come when it 
would be possible to restrict the unlimited 



MARTIN LUTHER. 53 

power of the Pope to some natural bounds — a 
result which neither the diplomacy of courts 
nor the force of hostile armies in sanguinary 
battles had heretofore been able to accomplish. 
Luther, in a forcible and concisely-written 
pamphlet, published under the title of " Rea- 
sons why the Works of the Pope and his Fol- 
lowers were Burned," gave to the world a full 
account of that important event, so pregnant 
with grave results, and which may be said to 
have irrevocably inaugurated the great work 
of the Reformation. 



£% 



CHAPTER VIII. 

LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET AT WORMS. 




LTHOUGH, as before stated, Luther 
had, in the beginning of the contro- 
versy, only protested and rebelled 
against the shameless abuse of the indulgence 
privilege, and had duly acknowledged the 
Roman See as the supreme tribunal in all 
matters pertaining to the Church, yet he did 
not fail to meet the crisis now forced upon 
him with the wonted fearlessness and sublime 
heroism of his nature. He at once determined 
to free himself and the Church from the foul 
incubus which for centuries had rested upon 
and dwarfed its energies, and to crush at one 

decisive blow the vile and superstitious dog- 
54 



MARTIN LUTHER. 55 

mas inculcated and enforced by a degraded 
hierarchy. He declared the entire doctrine of 
Papal indulgence and the remission of sins a 
swindle of the priesthood, and denounced the 
Pope himself as an usurper. He denounced 
monachism and the worship of images; an- 
nounced himself as opposed to the prevailing 
system of mass-saying for the repose of the 
souls of the dead, and declared the enforced 
celibacy of the clergy unnatural and unscrip- 
tural. He also refused to acknowledge the 
right of the priesthood to deprive communi- 
cants of the privilege and benefits of the holy 
sacrament, and sharply censured many other 
unbiblical doctrines and ordinances of the 
Roman Catholic Church. 

The Pope formally demanded of- the Empe- 
roj of Germany, Charles V, the punishment of 
the audacious " heretic," but the emperor de- 
termined to give Luther the benefit of the 
laws, and ordered his trial to take place before 
the Imperial Diet, at Worms. In the Spring 



56 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS 

of the year 1521, Luther was requested to 
appear before that august body, to defend his 
cause, and abide by the decision of the Ger- 
man Parliament. The emperor granted him a 
passport and an escort as far as Worms. Full 
of faith in the justness of his cause, and as- 
sured of Divine protection, Luther left Witten- 
berg, and prepared to face his influential and 
numerous enemies. His friends were in great 
trouble about the proposed journey, and at- 
tempted to dissuade him from making the 
venture, as they feared that a fate similar to 
that of the lamented Huss,- at Constance, one 
hundred and six years before, .might befall 
him ; but Luther replied : " I am called to 
Worms, and to Worms I will go. Though 
they build -fires between Wittenberg and 
Worms so high that the flames touch heaven, 
I will confront them in the name of the Lord, 
and acknowledge Christ and his Gospel. Huss 
was burned to ashes, but the truth was not 
destroyed with him. Christ still lives, despite 



MARTIN LUTHER. y/ 

of all the devices of Hell and the powers of 
the Prince of Darkness. If there were as 
many devils in Worms as there are tiles upon 
its roofs, I would enter the place, face the jaws 
of the Behemoth, and test the terror of his 
teeth." 

Having received the imperial safe-conduct, 
through the exertions of his sovereign, the 
elector, Luther quietly proceeded upon his 
long journey, and safely arrived at Worms on 
the sixteenth of April. When Luther entered 
the city, a great multitude assembled to look 
upon the stalwart monk who had dared to 
brave the ire and power of the Pope as neither 
king nor emperor dared to do. On the follow- 
ing day still greater crowds thronged to see 
him, on his way to the assembled Diet, where 
all the grand civil and ecclesiastical dignitaries 
of the realm, including the emperor himself, a 
king, six electors, twenty-four dukes, and over 
two hundred and fifty noblemen were assem- 
bled to hear him. 



5 8 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

Luther, however, entered the magnificent 
and crowded halls with calm, dignified, and 
resolute bearing, unabashed by the splendor of 
the scene or the novelty of his situation. 

He was asked whether he acknowledged the 
authorship of certain published works, the 
titles of which were read to him by an official 
of the Diet. He replied in the affirmative; 
but when he was formally asked whether he 
was ready to recant the doctrines he had 
taught in these writings, he requested that the 
Diet grant him twenty-four hours respite to 
meditate upon a subject of such deep impor- 
tance to the soul and its salvation, and to pre- 
pare a suitable answer. The delay was granted. 
Luther passed the whole of the succeeding 
night in fervent prayer and profound medita- 
tion. On the following day, as he was about 
to enter the Diet, an' old veteran, named 
George von Frundsberg, approached him, and 
tapping Luther upon the shoulder in a friendly 
way, said : " My honest little monk, thou art 



MARTIN LUTHER. 59 

about to enter upon a path of danger the like 
of which neither I nor any other old soldier 
has ever trodden, even in the hottest rage of 
battle. However, if thou art right, and assured 
of the truth of thy cause, go forward, in God's 
name, and fear not. The Lord will never for- 
sake thee !" Many others, princes and noble- 
men, encouraged him with kindly speech, and 
bade him be of good cheer. Supported by 
Divine grace, Luther met the crisis like the 
Christian hero that he was, nor flinched in the 
least during the trying scene. In a long ad- 
dress, he stated his reasons for pursuing the 
course he did, and declared his inability con- 
scientiously to abjure the doctrines he had 
avowed, preached, and defended. On the final 
demand of the Diet that he should render a 
short and decisive answer to the question con- 
cerning a formal recantation, Luther replied : 
" Whereas, your Imperial Majesty and illustri- 
ous princes require of me an artless and direct 
answer to your interrogatory, I shall give one 



60 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

that can in no wise be misunderstood ; namely, 
unless that I am subdued by the evidence of 
Holy Writ, or by clear, intelligent, and undis- 
guised reasons, I can not and will not recant. 
It is neither safe nor desirable to violate con- 
science. On this I stand ; I can not do other- 
wise. God help me ! Amen !" 

Profound was the impression which this no- 
ble and ever-memorable declaration made upon 
all present. It thrilled the hearts of Luther's 
adherents like the clang of the trumpets of 
victory, and prince and peasant alike were 
forced to acknowledge the sublime courage of 
the humble monk, and pay homage to the po- 
tency of his chivalric spirit. 

His clerical enemies, and the partisans of 
the Papal corruption in general, however, 
waxed only the more violent and desperate in 
proportion to Luther's success. They urged 
the emperor to withdraw the imperial " Geleit- 
brief," or safe-guard, from Luther, which per- 
mitted him to travel unharmed to and from 



MARTIN LUTHER. 6 1 

Wittenberg, excusing this piece of knavery 
upon the ground that it was not required of 
any one to keep promises made to a " her- 
etic." The emperor, however, replied, magnan- 
imously, " Though all the world be full of 
knaves and treachery, a German emperor will 
never break his plighted word." Thus, rely- 
ing upon the protection which his passport 
afforded him, and which had been extended to 
embrace a period of twenty days, Luther de- 
parted from Worms on his return journey 
to Wittenberg. Nevertheless, Luther had, in 
the mean time, been declared an outlaw and 
arch-heretic by the Papal authorities ; that is 
every body throughout the empire was author- 
ized and commanded to inflict upon him and 
his kindred all possible harm and violence, 
even to the taking of life. But the words of 
the inspired Psalmist, " In the time of trouble 
he shall hide me in his pavilion ; in the secret 
of his tabernacle shall he hide me ; he shall 
set me on a rock," were never more beautifully 



62 



' HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 



or literally exemplified than in the case of 
Luther. He found a "pavilion," the Lord's 
" tabernacle," in the mountain fortress Wart- 
burg. 




CHAPTER IX. 

LUTHER WAYLAID BY HIS FRIENDS— THE 
WARTBURG ASYLUM. 




N the morning of April 26, 1521, 
Luther left Worms for Wittenberg, 
in the company of a few friends. 
Near Oppenheim, he was overtaken by the 
emperor's herald, Sturm, who acted as escort 
as far as Friedberg. At this place, the im- 
perial herald was sent back to Worms as the 
bearer of dispatches, but which was simply a 
ruse on the part of Luther's friends to rid 
themselves of his presence. His place was 
taken by a young knight, belonging to the 
suite of the Landgrave Philip of Hessia, who 
had become an enthusiastic adherent of the 



64 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

Lutheran doctrines. All the arrangements for 
the personal safety of Luther had been secretly 
perfected by his noble friend and sovereign, 
Frederick the Wise, with the efficient assist- 
ance of the prince's private secretary, Spala- 
tin, a learned Doctor of Divinity and admirer 
of the Reformer. It had been determined by 
Luther's friends, that he and his party should 
be attacked upon the highway, at some eligible 
point near Castle Wartburg, by an armed force 
of masked horsemen, dragged with great ap- 
parent violence upon a horse held ready for 
the purpose, and hurried off by the kidnap- 
ping party into the mountains, safe from pur- 
suit or detection. Though Luther was aware 
that powerful friends were engaged in attempts 
to preserve his life against the murderous de- 
signs of his enemies, he was entirely ignorant 
of the friendly plot to abduct him, and of the 
means made ready to accomplish it. The ut- 
most secrecy was essential, in order to thwart 
the spies of the priesthood, and prevent the 



MARTIN LUTHER. 65 

Papal authorities from knowing the true state 
of affairs. The object was to make Luther's 
enemies, and the human bloodhounds upon 
his track, believe that he had been attacked 
and murdered by a band of fanatics, in pursu- 
ance of the Pope's ban of outlawry. 

All along the route, from Worms as far as 
Eisenach, Luther was received at prominent 
points with enthusiastic expressions of rever- 
ence and love. Many noblemen, and even 
some of the most distinguished of the clergy, 
vied with each other in demonstrations of es- 
teem and admiration for the sturdy opponent 
of ecclesiastical despotism, and the fearless 
champion of Gospel truth. At Harsfeld, for 
instance, a brilliant procession of nobles and 
citizens of the town, headed by the Abbot of 
Harsfeld Abbey, met Luther, and escorted 
him into town, where he and his party were 
treated to a public dinner in the Abbey refec- 
tory. Here, and in defiance of the emperor's 
decree ordering him to abstain from public 



66 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

preaching, Luther delivered a soul-stirring 
sermon, at the earnest solicitation of the res- 
ident clergy and the multitude. At Eisenach 
similar public demonstrations -awaited him, 
and his entry into the gates of his "dear 
town," as Luther loves to call Eisenach, re- 
sembled the triumphal entry of a prince. 

On the following day, while Luther and a few 
of his friends were quietly pursuing their way 
toward Wittenberg, and while passing through 
a narrow defile in the mountains in the neigh- 
borhood of the chapel at Glisbach, the denoue- 
ment of the kidnapping plot followed. A party 
of mail-clad horsemen, emerging from the ad- 
jacent woods, rushed down upon them at a full 
charge. Luther's brother Jacob, who was in 
the vehicle with his illustrious brother, jumped 
out, and escaped in the bushes near the road- 
side. Dashing up, one of the riders demanded 
if any of the travelers was named Luther ; 
the latter, rising in response, had a cross-bow 
placed against his breast, and was ordered to 



MARTIN LUTHER. 67 

surrender immediately. Two of his compan- 
ions, terribly frightened, begged for mercy ; 
but Luther, comprehending the plot at a 
glance, whispered to them, in Latin, " Coufidi, 
amici nostri sunt — fear not, they are our 
friends " — and quietly gave himself up. Lu- 
ther was stripped of his priestly robes, a 
horseman's cloak was thrown over his shoul- 
ders, and he was bound upon a horse held 
ready for the purpose. His astonished friends 
were ordered to proceed on their way, and the 
troop, with their prisoner, dashed into the for- 
est skirting the road. 

The news of the arrest and abduction of 
Luther spread every-where, and the plot was 
so successfully and secretly accomplished, that 
Luther's enemies, and many of his friends, act- 
ually believed him to have been incarcerated 
for life in some gloomy dungeon of the inqui- 
sition, or killed by the dagger of some fanat- 
ical Papist. 

Luther arrived safely, at midnight, at the 



68 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS, 

Wartburg, a strong mountain fortress over- 
looking the town of Eisenach, in Saxony, 
where every preparation had been made by 
the Elector Frederick for his friend's safety 
and comfort. 

Luther felt grateful for the care show r n by 
his friends for his personal safety, and at- 
tempted to adapt himself to his novel circum- 
stances ; but it was an irksome task for a free 
and aspiring spirit like his to be circumscribed 
by the narrow limits of a feudal castle. The 
eagle loves to sun his wings in the limitless 
empyrean, unfettered, sovereign, sublime ; cage 
him, and his royal spirit becomes broken, and 
though his prison bars are made of solid gold, 
he frets his pinions angrily against them, and 
sighs for his ancient freedom. Thus it was 
with the captive Luther. 

Luther's personal appearance at this time 
was very different from what it was at a later 
period in his life, and as we behold him in 
the famous picture by Cranach, when he had 



MARTIN LUTHER. 69 

become fleshy and comfortably stout. Up to 
the time of his involuntary residence at the 
Wartburg, he had not improved physically 
since the time of his celebrated colloquium 
with Dr. Eck, at Leipzig, where, naturally of 
medium size only, he appeared so excessively 
lean, by reason of severe study, that " one 
could count the bones of his body through the 
skin," as he himself humorously remarked. 
Nor had the succeeding years of anxiety and 
labor contributed to lesson this defect. The 
governor of the castle treated Luther with ex- 
treme respect and kindness. He was known 
to his attendants by the name of " Esquire 
Georg," and allowed brief excursions on horse- 
back to points of interest adjacent to the 
castle. In these excursions, he was always 
followed by a trusty servant, and disguised in 
the garb of a common country squire. Now 
and then he was allowed to communicate with 
some of his relatives and most intimate 
friends, but many of his letters were destroyed 



JO HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

by the commandant of the Wartburg, who 
feared that some of the missives might fall 
into the hands of spies, and betray the res- 
idence of his illustrious guest. In many of 
his letters he speaks of the Wartburg in met- 
aphor, and it seems that he loved to call it 
his "island of Patmos," judging from the fre- 
quency with which this title appears in his 
Wartburg epistles. 

His restless mind found ample and conge- 
nial work in his seclusion in all kinds of po- 
lemics. He devoted himself to the refutation 
of great numbers of pamphlets published by 
his opponents against himself, and was inde- 
fatigable in his exposure of the frauds of 
priestcraft, and his attacks upon the gross 
abuses in the Roman Church. His new doc- 
trines were assailed on every side by vigorous 
writers ; nor were his assailants in the least 
particular as to the means they used to 
blacken his character and destroy his cause. 
But through it all, the heart of Luther never 



MARTIN LUTHER. 71 

descended to chicane or personal malice, and 
in every thing that emanated from his keen 
and facile pen brightly shines the light of a 
pure and noble spirit. 

In spite of every precaution, Luther's place 
of concealment was discovered, and when the 
governor of the Wartburg announced the dis- 
agreeable news to him, he at once declared his 
willingness to seek some other asylum, or face 
his enemies directly. At last it was decided 
to attempt another ruse upon the enemy. 
Luther wrote a long letter to Spalatin, dated 
from some imaginary and distant point of the 
empire, and the letter was allowed to fall, as 
if by mere accident, into the hands of his per- 
secutors. The plan succeeded ; and, though, 
the efforts of the Papists were not abated, they 
were placed upon a false trail. 

His irksome confinement, however, and in- 
tense application to literary work, preyed upon 
his system, and begun to cloud his sunny 
mind with a haze of strange hallucinations. 



72 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

While in this condition, the well-known an 
ecdote is related of him, that while engaged at 
midnight in his apartment, on some important 
work, Satan appeared in person to torment 
him, and that Luther rid himself of this fiery 
and unwelcome guest by hurling his huge ink- 
stand at the intruder's head. 

His heart was filled with an uncontrollable 
yearning for his dear Wittenberg; so, some 
time during November, he left the Wartburg 
secretly, made his way to Wittenberg, and re- 
mained there several days, secreted in the 
house of his friend Arnsdorf, where he met and 
consulted with many of his adherents. Reach- 
ing his mountain asylum again in safety, 
cheered and refreshed, he began his great 
work of translating the Bible, beginning with 
the New Testament, as he could not attempt 
the translation of the Old without its assist- 
ance, as he states in a letter to Arnsdorf. His 
translation of the Bible created a profound sen- 
sation in the public mind. This is apparent 



MARTIN LUTHER. 73 

in the statement of one of Luther's contempo- 
raries, Erasmus Aeber, who says : " Doctor 
Martinus is a veritable German Cicero. He 
hath not only shown us what true religion is, 
but hath also reformed the German language. 
No living writer on earth can be compared to 
him." Our astonishment increases when we 
remember that the translation of the New 
Testament was completed in the period of 
scarcely two months, notwithstanding frequent 
interruptions and much anxiety caused by the 
indiscreet actions of some of his noisy follow- 
ers. Luther's translation of the Old Testa- 
ment followed soon after, and in 1534 the im- 
mortal work upon which he had labored so 
faithfully within the gloomy walls of the Wart- 
burg was finished, and the first complete Ger- 
man Bible given to the world. 

It was a matter of astonishment to Europe 
that Luther, amid all his travels and active 
labors, could present so very perfect a transla- 
tion of the whole Bible. But a single word 



74 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

explains it all. He had a rigid system of do- 
ing something every day. In answer to a 
question how he did it, Luther said, " Nulla 
dies sine versu — not a day without a verse." 
It was this persistence and energy that brought 
him soon to the close of his Bible. 



CHAPTER X. 

LUTHER LEAVES THE WARTBURG— FALSE 
PROPHETS. 




N the third day of March, 1522, in 
spite of the earnest protest of his 
friend, the elector, Luther left the 
Wartburg, disguised in his knightly costume, 
and reached Wittenberg in safety, where dis- 
turbances had taken place which seemed to 
threaten with destruction the entire work of 
the Reformation which Luther, so far, had 
succeeded in accomplishing. 

A few rebellious spirits, namely, had arrived 
in Wittenberg, who claimed to be acting under 
special Divine inspiration, and demanded the 
regeneration of the Church by force of arms. 

75 



76 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

These persons had been joined by Dr. Karl- 
stadt, a colaborer of Luther's, and professor 
in the University. These men, haranguing 
the people, incited a riot, which culminated in 
a general assault upon the churches of the 
place, the destruction of pictures of saints, the 
paraphernalia of Romish ritualism, and other 
iconoclastic proceedings. 

As soon as Luther heard of these deplorable 
outrages, he determined to use all of his per- 
sonal influence and authority to repress the 
demon of riot and revolution. He quit the 
Wartburg on horseback, and during the shel- 
ter of a dark night. It was the third day of 
March, 1522. Heedless of all personal dan- 
ger, oblivious to the dread ban of the Church 
resting upon his head, and the fact that, as an 
outlaw, his life was in the hands of any lurk- 
ing assassin, he hurried on to Wittenberg, ar- 
riving there in safety. To his sovereign, who 
had so strenuously remonstrated with him 
against the apparent folly of the act, he wrote : 



MARTIN LUTHER. ^ 

"I go to Wittenberg protected by a far higher 
and stronger power than that of my sovereign ; 
nor do I desire the protection of your Royal 
Highness. Yea ; I hold that I am protecting 
you rather than that you are protecting me. 
This matter shall not and can not be helped 
or mended by the sword. The Lord alone 
must labor here, without the aid of human 
hands. He, therefore, that hath the greatest 
faith will command the greatest means of pro- 
tection. " And so it proved to be. Luther's 
earnest and potential words, like oil poured 
upon the troubled waters, soothed the angry 
waves of religious excitement, and again 
brought peace within the walls of his beloved 
Wittenberg. 

Unfortunately, however, for the general 
peace and safety of the people, the spirit of re- 
bellion and sedition began to show itself all 
over Germany, and broke out in fearful vio- 
lence in many places. Thomas Muenzer, Dean 
of Allstadt, in Thuringia, declared that he was 



78 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

the Holy Ghost, and preached that it was not 
only necessary that all men should be relieved 
of the yoke and despotism of Papal dominion, 
but that all the authority of civil government 
must be abolished, because every Christian was 
a free man, and exempt from all tribute to the 
authorities, or obedience to the laws. Such 
doctrine was very suggestive and agreeable to 
an enslaved and oppressed peasantry, groaning 
under the lash of priests, and impoverished by 
an extravagant and debauched nobility. In- 
flamed and goaded by the harangues of crazy 
or designing demagogues, the German peas- 
ants, in great and armed crowds, swept from 
place to place, burning, pillaging, and destroy- 
ing every thing in their path, and leveling the 
monuments of feudal power and the strong- 
holds of mighty lords with the dust. 

Luther was kept busy in efforts to allay the 
raging social and political storm by means of 
mouth and pen. He wrote numerous im- 
portant pamphlets, addressed to the people, 



MARTIN LUTHER. 79 

to show the madness and criminality of these 
proceedings, and expounding the Scriptural 
injunctions concerning the duty of all men to 
subject themselves to magistrates and ordained 
authorities. But even the powerful hand and 
mind of Luther was inadequate to allay the 
tempest, and bid the wild waves of rebellion 
cease from their horrid work of destruction. 
Kings and nobles banded together to preserve 
their existence, and in the name of the law 
threw their disciplined cohorts upon the de- 
moralized and illy-armed peasant mobs. Many 
thousands of these were massacred in battle, 
and the ring-leader, Muenzer, and a number of 
his most prominent assistants were captured 
and beheaded. These deplorable occurrences 
took place during the year 1525, an eventful 
one in the annals of the German Father- 
land. 

In the same year an important event oc- 
curred in the life of the great Reformer ; 
namely, his marriage to Catherine von Bora; 



80 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

a step whose blessed' and permanent influence 
upon himself and the cause he championed 
can not be estimated. 





CHAPTER XI. 

LUTHER AS HUSBAND, FATHER, AXD FRIEND. 

IN most of the biographies of the great 
Reformer, we contemplate him as the 

a stern and wrathful assailant of the 

abuses of the Divine Word, as the bold and 

fearless defender of his dogmas, as the rough 

and ever-ready champion of Christ's Church, 

a valiant warrior of the Cross, armed cap-a-pie 

in defense of the right. We hear but little of 

Luther as the affectionate husband, the loving 

father, the devoted friend, the cheerful lover of 

music and of the beauties of nature ; nor do 

we hear enough of his universal benevolence — 

every-where drying the tears of affliction as 

far as his stalwart arms could reach — and yet 

6 81 



82 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

what wealth of love and tenderness, of manli- 
ness combined with the sweetest and most 
child-like simplicity, do we find in this truly 
loyal and honest German nature ! At work or 
resting in the home circle, at the altar or in . 
the chamber of the sick and dying, praying or 
playing, in the midst of old or young, the rich 
and noble or the poor and unlettered, we find 
the same great and noble spirit, the same un- 
alterable fidelity to truth and the God of truth. 
His love of children in itself is one of the 
loveliest idyls, pervaded with pure and tran- 
quil joy, yet full of the stronger traits of char- 
acter ; for Luther ever strove to educate his 
children to shun hypocrisy in every shape, 
training them by precept and example to be 
strong and noble men and true-hearted women. 
These are the softer outlines of that granite 
Rock of the Reformation, against which the 
surly tides of darkness and priestly hate beat 
in vain ; who fearlessly faced the thunders of 
the Vatican and the terrors of imperial bans; 



MARTIN LUTHER. 83 

the banner-bearer of the host that fought for 
spiritual freedom ; the man who knew and 
cared only for the honor of God and the wel- 
fare of his native land. Lessing savs : " I 
venerate Luther to such a degree that I am 
glad to have discovered some faults in him, 
otherwise I would have been in danger of 
apotheosizing him. The traces of the human 
which I find upon him are as precious to me 
as the most dazzling of his perfections." 

When Luther had firmly laid the foundation 
of a new Church, he decided upon removing 
the last remnant of Popish folly with which 
the freedom of his actions was still ham- 
pered — he determined to transform the cold, 
celibate monk into the ardent and affectionate 
husband and father ; the dreary cell into a 
home of quiet joys and domestic happiness. 
Long ago he had demonstrated that priestly 
vows of celibacy were contrary to the teach- 
ings of Christ, and in direct conflict with the 
whole tenor and spirit of Christianity. For 



84 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

the clergy of the new Church the holy institu- 
tion of matrimony had become a duty as well 
as a moral necessity, and yet Luther had him- 
self hesitated to take the final and irrevocable 
step. To the request of his friends that he 
should place the sacred seal of the Church 
upon the bonds of matrimony by his individ- 
ual action, he returned an evasive answer; he 
wished some clergyman of higher rank than 
himself to take the solemn initiatory step, and 
for this end he had fixed his eyes upon the 
Elector Archbishop of Mentz. To this au- 
gust personage he wrote in his usual bold 
style : " I can not see how a man can remain 
in a condition of celibacy without incurring 
the displeasure and wrath of God ; and, surely, 
it must be dreadful should he be thus found 
when death approaches ; for what can he an- 
swer when the Creator shall say, 'I created 
thee a man, whom I desired not to be alone — 
where is thy wife ?' " At a later period he 
wrote, probably after the archbishop had 



MARTIN LUTHER. 85 

declined the request of Luther, " If my own 
marriage would be the means of strengthening 
your purpose and determining your action, I 
shall not hesitate in preceding your Royal 
Highness in this matter." 

Luther remained true to his resolve. Cath- 
erine von Bora, a former nun, became his 
wife — a noble, high-spirited, and devoted 
woman, in every way worthy to be the com- 
panion and counselor of such a man. 

The step he had reluctantly yet in the 
spirit of duty taken, proved to be a most for- 
tunate one to himself, and of great importance 
to the holy cause in which Luther was then so 
profoundly engaged ; for it had, in conse- 
quence, gained a calm and secluded family 
asylum, where its exalted friends and cham- 
pions could assemble and rest from the toils 
of their perilous warfare ; where they could 
gather renewed strength for coming trials in 
the wholesome atmosphere of love and piety; 
in a home around whose fireside the influence 



86 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

of a loving woman was ever found brightening 
the furrowed brows of care-worn man, cheer- 
ing the faint-hearted, and inspiring the mighty 
spirits there engaged in molding the destiny 
of nations. 

Luther's friends visited frequently at his 
house ; none more so than Melanchthon, who 
delighted to hear Luther sing and play when 
surrounded by his children. Luther used to 
call such occasions his " Home Cantorium ;" 
and it is well known how dearly Luther loved 
music, and how devotedly he worshiped at its 
golden shrine during his hours of leisure, at 
school, in the university, and even in the 
dreary cloister cell. 

Luther was not only a poet, to whom we 
owe some of the most majestic hymns ever 
written, but a composer of much merit, having 
composed the music which accompanies many 
of his grandest songs. His familiar hymns 
are characterized by truth, soul-stirring power, 
and profound pathos, and his melodies, though 



MARTIN LUTHER. 87 

simple, are in harmony with the lofty words. 
This is beautifully exemplified in the hymn, 
" Eine feste Burg ist unser Gott," the stirring 
battle-anthem of the Reformation, which, with 
its triumphant peals, led the indomitable hosts 
of Protestantism to final victory. 

D' Aubigne, in his " History of the Reforma- 
tion," gives the following anecdote concerning 
the effects of music upon Luther. The inci- 
dent took place during his residence in the 
Augustinian monastery, at Wittenberg: "One 
day, overcome with sadness, he shut himself 
in his cell, and for several days and nights 
suffered no one to approach him. One of his 
friends, Lukas Edemberger, uneasy about him, 
took with him some young boys, choral sing- 
ers, and went and knocked at the door of his 
cell. No one opened or answered. Edem- 
berger broke open the door, and found Luther 
stretched on the floor without any sign of life. 
His friend tried in vain to recall his senses. 
Then the young choristers began to sing a 



88 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

sweet hymn. Their clear voices acted like a 
charm on the poor monk, to whom music had 
always been a source of delight, and by de- 
grees his consciousness returned. " 

Luther, in one of his letters, says : " I am 
not satisfied with him who professeth to scorn 
the art of music ; because I deem music to be 
not a human but a Divine gift. It maketh 
the . heart glad, and putteth Satan to flight. 
Next to theology, I give the highest rank and 
the greatest honor to music." 

From motives such as these, he diligently 
cultivated the art of music in his family. Af- 
ter the day's weary labors were over; after 
having preached from the pulpit, or taught in 
the lecture-room to the gathered youth of the 
land, who listened to his teachings with rev- 
erential affection ; after important consulta- 
tions with his brethren in the faith, or a 
decision upon some weighty point of action 
with his colaborers and comrades in the holy 
cause ; or after having labored all day with 



MARTIN LUTHER. 89 

the pen, throwing off addresses and pamphlets 
to the people, a matter which he considered 
of far greater importance than the most learned 
and brilliant theological disputations, — no mat- 
ter how the day had passed, the evening was 
invariably devoted to the enjoyments of the 
domestic circle. Lively conversation, jokes 
and sparkling repartee, singing and music upon 
various instruments were then in order, Lu- 
ther himself accompanying the songs upon a 
guitar or with the flute, of which he was a 
master. A sweet, wholesome spirit of piety 
pervaded the whole house, and it can be truly 
said that a happier home than that of Luther 
never existed on earth. 




CHAPTER XII. 

A CHARACTERISTIC LETTER— HIS WIFE AND 
CHILDREN. 




E can give no better glimpse into the 

depths of Luther's loving heart than 

that which is afforded by the perusal 

of a letter to his eldest son, John, or his 

"little Hanschen," as he loved to call him, 

written while Luther was at Castle Coburg. 

At that time the Imperial Diet was in session 

at Augsburg, but Luther could not attend it, 

because the ban of the Empire was still in 

force against him. However, in order to be 

as near as possible to the Diet, he took up his 

abode at Coburg. Under the heavy weight of 

serious and rapidly accumulating labor in the' 
90 



MARTIN LUTHER. 91 

interests of the struggling Church, he never 
forgot the tender ties that bound him to the 
loved ones at home ; and the following quaint 
epistle to his " four-year-old " will interest the 
reader in this connection : 

" My Darling Little Son, — It pleases me 
to learn that thou art studying so well and so 
diligently. Continue in doing this, my child, 
and when I return home I will bring thee 
some beautiful presents. I know an exceed- 
ingly pretty garden, wherein very many chil- 
dren do enjoy and disport themselves. They 
are clad in golden garments, and gather beau- 
tiful apples under the trees ; they sing, gambol, 
and are merry, having also pretty little ponies, 
with golden reins and saddles of silver. There- 
upon I inquired of the Master that owneth the 
garden w r hose children these were. He an- 
swered, 'These are the children who love to 
pray and study, and are pious.' Whereupon 
I replied, 'Dear Sir, I, too, have a little son, 



92 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

named Johnny Luther; may he not also come 
into the garden, so that he can eat beautiful 
apples and pears, and ride upon such hand- 
some ponies, and play with these children?' 
Thereupon the man replied, 'If he loves to 
pray and learn his lessons, and is pious, he, 
too, may come into the garden, also Lippus 
and Jost, his playmates ; and when they all 
shall come together, they shall play on fifes 
and drums and lutes, and all kinds of stringed 
instruments, and they will dance, and shoot 
with tiny cross-bows/ And the man showed 
me into a fine green in the garden, arranged 
for dancing, and around it were displayed 
beautiful golden fifes, drums, and fine silver 
cross-bows. But it was still early in the day, 
and the children had not yet eaten their meal ; 
therefore I could not wait to see the dancing, 
and said to the man, " O, dear Sir, I will has- 
ten unto him, and tell him to be sure to pray 
diligently, to be pious, and to study with ardor, 
so that he, too, may come into this beautiful 



MARTIN LUTHER. 93 

garden.' Whereupon the man said, ' Be it so ; 
go and write him thus.' 

" Therefore, my dear Johnny, study and pray 
dutifully, and inform Lippus and Jost, also, that 
they study and pray, so that you may come to- 
gether to the Garden. May the Omnipotent 
Father in heaven watch over thee! Give love 
to Cousin Lena, and a kiss for my sake. 
" Thy loving father, 

" Martin Luther. 

"Anno 1530." 

Only from the deep fountain of a pure and 
loving heart could such an epistle emanate. 
It is a grand and mighty, yet humble and 
childlike, spirit, that portrays in these quaint 
lines the fervor of paternal affection, and 
opens to our view that sacred temple of his 
soul where the shrine of his domestic happi- 
ness was erected; where the " angels of the 
household, 1 ' his dear wife and beloved chil- 
dren, reigned supreme, endowing his heart 
with a richness of felicity rarely equaled, 



94 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

and never excelled, in the annals of human 
entities. 

The " Frau Doctor," or " Master Katie," as 
he was wont to call his darling wife in his hu- 
morous letters, in addition to his " Hanschen," 
blessed him with five other children : Eliza- 
beth, who died shortly after her birth, Magda- 
lene, Martin, Paul, and Margaret. 

How delightful it is to get an occasional 
glimpse of Luther's home-life ! and how beau- 
tifully did the hope, expressed in his prayer 
upon his nuptial-day, ripen into blessed frui- 
tion : "Dear, heavenly Father! Because thou 
hast placed me in a station of honor for thy 
name's sake, and as thou wiliest me to be 
called and honored as a parent, grant me thy 
grace and blessing, that I may devoutly, and 
in a godly manner, rule and support my dear 
wife, my children, and servants." 

Years after this, and when in the meridian 
of his life, he remarked, " My Katie is dutiful 
and kind in all things, more so than I had 



MARTIN LUTHER. 95 

dared to hope, and I, therefore, account myself 
richer than Croesus." 

The garden attached to the old homestead 
was a great source of the purest enjoyment to 
the family during the Summer, and so was the 
old-fashioned " Christmas- tree," in the dreary 
days of dark December. Luther was an ar- 
dent lover of nature, worshiping her ever- 
varying aspects with reverent heart, and 
gazing upon her charms with the enraptured 
eye of a Christian poet — feelings which he 
sought to cultivate in the breasts of his chil- 
dren, and which he never failed to inspire in 
his friends. Happy were the hours passed in 
the arbors and flowery paths of his little gar- 
den by Luther, surrounded by his family and 
intimate friends. All present shared in the 
merriment of the little ones, or lent willing 
aid in instructing their minds when tired of 
play. The works of nature were unfolded to 
them in fables and instructive stories ; they 
were made familiar with science and philos- 



96 historical souvenirs. 

ophy ; and even Art, with her wonderful pic- 
ture-map, deigned to give her bright presence 
to the charmed circle, in the person of Lukas 
Cranach. 

To Luther, children were the golden links 
of that chain which unites the human and the 
Divine, the visible to the invisible, the lowest 
to the highest ; and his unquenchable love for 
nature he once expressed by comparing the 
Scriptures to a beautiful forest, quaintly say- 
ing, " There is not a tree in it but what I have 
touched with a loving hand." 




CHAPTER XIII. 



CHRISTMAS IN LUTHER'S HOME— DEATH OF 
MAGDALENA 




N the sweet home-life of Luther, the 
Christmas-tree was always a hallowed 
center of attraction, and his children 
again occupy the most conspicuous place. 
Strange, indeed, would it have been had it 
been otherwise, for he never spoke of his chil- 
dren else than " God's brightest blessings. " A 
celebrated German artist has given to the 
world a happy representation of one of these 
tender home-scenes, and many thousand copies 
of this gem of pictorial art adorn the walls of 
German households. The picture shows Lu- 
ther sitting near a Christmas-tree, holding upon 
7 97 



98 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

his lap his youngest daughter, and by his side 
sits his faithful wife, clasping his hand in her 
own. Little Paul is showing him his new 
hobby-horse ; and trumpets, wooden horsemen, 
apples, and toys of every description in ludi- 
crous chaos encumber the floor. Luther's 
dearest friend, Melanchthon, is engaged with 
" little Johnny;" and there, in verity, is to be 
seen the "beautiful garden," groups of merry- 
faced children, apples, pears, pretty little ponies 
with golden reins and silver saddles, also fifes, 
drums, and silver cross-bows, exactly as was 
promised in father's letter from Coburg ! 
Johnny is engaged in shooting at the golden 
fruit hanging amid the branches of the gor- 
geous fir, and behind the table Cousin Lena is 
enjoying, with little Martin, the contents' of a 
new picture-book, while in front of them sits 
Magdalena, close to her doll-wagon, holding in 
her hands the Christmas angel, which has been 
taken down from the top of the tree for her es- 
pecial gratification. A blissful smile irradiates 



MARTIN LUTHER. 99 

her lovely features as she contemplates her 
treasures. Happy child ! soon herself to be 
a crowned angel of heaven. 

While viewing this superb picture of tran- 
quillity and love, it brings vividly to mind again 
another instance of that grand heroism of 
spirit and exalted human love so characteristic 
of Luther; a scene of mournful yet sublime 
beauty, touching his lofty, rugged nature with 
a softness like that which settles around the 
rough crags of some Alpine peak when the 
glory of a Summer twilight reaches the world. 

Growing steadily in beauty of soul, as w r ell 
as in graces of body, Magdalena, his beloved 
daughter, the happy child we see in the pic- 
ture with the Christmas angel in her embrace, 
had reached the age of thirteen, when, pros- 
trated by a fatal disease, she lay awaiting the 
approach of death. The Destroyer has laid 
his relentless hand upon her ; moaning, she 
battles with increasing agony, while by her 
bedside, upon his knees, Luther wrestles in 



100 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

prayer over his dying child. Tears are falling 
heavily over his bronzed cheeks ; his heart, 
torn by pain and love, pleads to Heaven for 
release from her sufferings. " I love her so 
dearly !" he exclaims ; " but, my Father in 
heaven, if it is thy will, gladly will I resign 
her to live with thee forever." 

He bends over the child, stroking her pallid 
cheeks, and softly asks : 

"My darling, my daughter! wouldst thou 
love to remain here with thy father, or wouldst 
thou rather go home to thy Father in heaven ?" 

" Dear father," the child replies, twining 
her white, feeble arms about his neck, "as 
God wills." 

Another flood of tears gushes from the fa- 
ther's eyes at this reply ; but he turns his face 
away so that the child may not perceive his 
emotion, and tenderly whispers : 

" O Father ! thou knowest how great is the 
love I have for her ; but yet, living or dying, 
we are thine." 



MARTIN LUTHER. 10 1 

At last the hour of mortal dissolution ar- 
rives. Luther's wife, his "beloved Katie," sat, 
with tear-stained face, in an obscure corner of 
the death-chamber, her eyes covered by her 
hands, unable to witness the agonizing scene. 
Luther had again knelt by the bedside of his 
dying daughter, praying God to release his 
child from her mortal struggles. Then he 
arose, folded her in his arms, and, laying her 
burning cheek against his own, he endeavored 
to soothe her last pangs, although his own 
heart was nearly broken. 

In this manner the spirit of Magdalena 
forsook its earthly tenement, and soared to 
heaven. Her last look rested upon the face 
of her father. 

Two days after, the corpse, covered with 
evergreens and flowers, lay in its coffin, in a 
darkened chamber in the basement of the 
house. When the persons who were to carry 
the coffin had arrived, and with them the 
friends of the familv, full of sorrow and affec- 



102 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

tionate sympathy, Luther took the hand of 
one of them, and, in his usual sweet and dig- 
nified manner, said : 

" We should not grieve thus, dear friends, 
for I have sent a saint to heaven. O, would 
that all of us could die as she hath done !" 

For the last time, alone and in silence, 
Luther visited the chamber in which his 
daughter was sleeping the dreamless sleep of 
death. He approached the wreathed bier, re- 
moved the coffin-lid, and cast a last, lingering 
look upon the face of his darling, from whose 
white lips never more would issue the tender 
words, " My dear, dear father !" Who can ex- 
press the agony that convulsed the heart of 
the doting and stricken father ! But he only 
sighed, " My own clear Magdalena, how well it 
is with thee !" He kissed the cold lips, bowed 
his head, and supplicated God for strength 
and solace in this dark hour of inexpressible 
grief. Calmly he arose, and, turning, closed 
the little house of his darlinsr child forever. 



MARTIN LUTHER. 103 

When Luther again appeared in the midst 
of his family, he comforted them and said, 
"It is well with my child, both in soul and 
body." To his sobbing wife he soothingly 
said, " It is strange to know that she is now 
happy and in peace, and that we, neverthe- 
less, are so full of sorrow." 

He thereupon calmly gave the necessary or- 
ders to the coffin-bearers, and, following them, 
beheld the corpse of his boloved child placed 
under the fragrant turf of the church-yard. 





CHAPTER XIV. 

LUTHER'S CATECHISM— THE DIET AT SPIRE, 
IN 1529— RESULTS. 



N the year 1528, Luther, by command 
of the elector, again traveled all over 
the country, in order to ascertain the 
condition of the Churches and schools. Every- 
where he found the most shameful neglect and 
sordid ignorance, both among the clergy and 
the laity. In his capacity as inspector, Luther 
did all in his power to mitigate this evil, and, 
as one of the most efficient means for reform, 
he wrote, in 1529, his well-known Catechism, 
the same which is still in use in every Prot- 
estant school in Germany. He first wrote 

the small Catechism for the use of families, and 
104 



MARTIN LUTHER. 105 

then another, called the Great Catechism, 
for the use of the clergy and public schools. 
Clear, concise, and most happily adapted to 
impart religious instruction to youth, no work 
of a similar character since has been able to 
supersede Luther's Catechism in the schools 
and families of Protestant Germany. 

In 1529, the Emperor of Germany convened 
another Diet, in Spire, similar to the one of 
1526. On this occasion, the adherents of Pa- 
pacy were very anxious that no changes should 
be allowed to be effected in Church govern- 
ment, and that its spiritual as well as material 
existence should remain in statu quo. But the 
dissenting princes and communal authorities, 
through their representatives, had prepared a 
series of resolutions protesting against this 
action of the Roman hierarchy, which resolu- 
tions, with due pomp and solemnity, they pre- 
sented to Charles V, on the nineteenth day of 
April, ever memorable in the annals of Chris- 
tianity, as by this " protest" the word " Prot- 



106 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

estant" obtained its ecclesiastical significance. 
This protest was again renewed by the dis- 
senters during the Diet held in Augsburg, in 
1530, where, on the twenty-fifth day of July, in 
the presence of the emperor and the assembled 
dignitaries of the realm, they published and 
presented their Confession of Faith, drawn up 
by Melanchthon, and which is generally known 
as the Augsburg Confession of Faith. 

This was a most solemn and imposing event, 
and while Doctor Bayer was reading the doc- 
ument, the most impressive silence reigned 
throughout the vast and magnificent hall. 

The memorial recapitulated the chief errors 
and abuses of the Papal Church, and solemnly 
denounced them ; and all the leading theses of 
the true Christian faith were clearly and incon- 
trovertibly expounded in accordance with the 
Holy Scriptures. It stated that man, from the 
very moment of his birth, was full of evil spir- 
itual tendencies and carnal lusts, ignorant of 
Divine love and mercy, and at war with God, 



MARTIN LUTHER. 10 J 

hence in a condition of eternal condemnation ; 
but that Christ, the veritable God-man, had 
redeemed the world from sin through the di- 
vine efficiency of his blood; also, that man can 
not obtain remission of his sins by his own 
works, but can only obtain justification before 
God through the grace and intercession of 
Christ Jesus, the Lamb of God. 

Thus, basing their Confession upon the doc- 
trines of Holy Writ, affirming the tenets of a 
true Church, and casting from them the errors, 
abuses, and corruptions of the age, the Protest-' 
ant princes and representatives of free cities 
of the Empire declared their reasons for de- 
manding a reform of the Church, and res- 
olutely and unanimously published their deter- 
mination to free themselves from the guilt and 
venality of the Roman Catholic Church gov- 
ernment. 

However, in the same ratio in which the re- 
sistance of enlightened Protestantism to Papal 
oppression developed itself, did the wrath of 



108 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS.. 

the priesthood, under the control of the Roman 
Junto and its adherents, increase in violence, 
until a murderous war of extermination was 
imminent. Therefore, in self-defense, the Prot- 
estants were forced to enter into the form of a 
Confederation to defend the new faith at the 
point of the sword, if necessary. Luther was 
at first opposed to entering into a compact 
looking to armed resistance, believing that an 
abiding faith in the power and assistance of 
God was all-sufficient, but he finally gave his 
assent to the arrangement. 

The final union and concentration of Prot- 
estant power was consummated in 1531, at 
Schmalkalden, and hence has been called the 
Schmalkaldian Confederation. By this means 
the new Protestant power achieved, in 1532, 
the so-called Treaty of Nuremberg, by which 
the " heretics" were temporarily guaranteed 
the free and undisturbed exercise of their re- 
ligious faith. 



CHAPTER XV. 

YEARS OF TRIAL AND AFFLICTION— LET- 
TERS— HYMNS. 



ggp^VURING his life, Luther had to un- 
>S?flPi c ' er S° niany trials and tribulations; 
""""" but his stout heart never faltered, nor 
was his bright and mighty spirit ever weak- 
ened or darkened by adversity. Doubtless, an 
all-wise Providence thus tested his sturdy soul 
in order that he might prove to coming ages 
an illustrio-us prototype of Christian sub- 
mission to the Divine will, thereby encourag- 
ing the faint-hearted, and elucidating by his 
own bright example the truth and purity of 
the Holy Scriptures, as well as exemplifying 

the new life infused into the Apostolic Church 

109 



110 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

through his instrumentality and the grace of 
Jehovah. 

In all his trials and afflictions, the same kind 
and heavenly Father whose love and mercy 
he so ably expounded, never allowed Luther to 
feel the shadow of a doubt concerning the effi- 
cacy of prayer, or failed to sustain him with 
the power of his omnipotent hand. To the 
fullest extent did the Reformer realize the 
depth and meaning of the Divine promise : 
"When thou passest through the waters, I will 
be with thee ; and through the rivers, they 
shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest 
through the fire, thou shalt not be burned ; 
neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For 
I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Is- 
rael, thy Savior." (Isaiah xliii, 2, 3.) 

In a letter to Duke George of Saxony, Lu- 
ther says: "I consider my prayer far mightier 
than all the power and majesty of Satan and 
his court ; if it were not so, Luther would have 
been destroyed long ago." 



MARTIN LUTHER. m 

The year 1527 was in particular a period of 
sorrow and suffering for Luther. On the ninth 
of July, of that year, he was overcome by a 
disease whose painfulness was such that he 
compares his sufferings to the affliction of St. 
Paul. While it lasted he showed the greatest 
fortitude and Christian resignation, and repeat- 
edly declared his willingness to resign the 
world, and meet his Creator. Yet, through 
all, he declared humbly, but firmly: "I say it 
with a clear conscience, that I have taught the 
Word of God truthfully, and in the way the 
Lord appointed me to do. Yea, I affirm that 
I taught wholesomely and righteously of faith, 
love, the cross, the sacraments, and other arti- 
cles of Christian belief. There are those who 
accuse me of being too severe and violent 
when I write against Papists and blasphemers 
of holy things, and endeavor to punish their 
ungodly acts, false doctrines, and hypocrisy. 
True, I have been at times exasperated, and 
have handled my opponents roughly, but never 



112 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

so that it hath repented me. Gentle or harsh, 
I never desired to harm any one, much less to 
compass the destruction of his soul ; on the 
contrary, I have ever endeavored that good 
and salvation should come to all, even my 
worst enemies. ,, To his wife and children he 
said : " I commend you unto my dear and faith- 
ful Father in heaven. Ye have no worldly 
goods ; however, the Lord, who is the father 
of £he orphan and the refuge of the widow, 
will sustain you and watch over you." An- 
other sore trial, in addition, came upon him in 
the course of this year. A . pestilence broke 
out in Wittenberg, and Luther's house, among 
many others, was converted into an asylum for 
the sick and dying. His life and that of his 
dear ones was daily exposed to the greatest 
peril ; yet he never left the place, acquitting 
himself most devotedly of his sacred duties as 
a minister of the Gospel, notwithstanding the 
urgent request of the elector that he and his 
family should seek safety from the plague in 



MARTIN LUTHER. 113 

Jena. His friend, Dr. Bugenhagen, and a few 
others remained with Luther, and shared with 
him the dangers of his post. In a letter to a 
friend, at this time, he says : "I am not alone; 
because the Lord Christ, the prayers of saints, 
and the angelic host, though invisible, are with 
us in power and great number." During the 
prevalence of the plague, Luther also wrote a 
little work entitled, "Answer to the Question, 
1 Ought we to be Afraid to Die ?' " 

But the bitterest experience of Luther's ten- 
der and sympathetic heart during this troub- 
lous year, was the news he constantly received 
of the martyr death of many of his steadfast 
friends of the purified Church, "followers of 
the true faith and Luther's doctrines," as they 
loved to call themselves, who were forced to 
seal their devotion by cruel deaths at the hands 
of the Papists, as " contumacious heretics." 
This was notably the case in Bavaria. Prom- 
inent among these martyred heroes was Lu- 
ther's personal friend, Leonard Kaiser, Vicar 



114 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

of Watzenkirchen, who was burned at the 
stake by order of the Pope, at Scherding, near 
Passau, August 16, 1527. Luther wrote to 
the condemned man a characteristic letter, full 
of deep feeling, heavenly hope, and spiritual 
power, and, in addition, tried every available 
means to save the life of his doomed friend, 
but in vain. He was sacrificed upon the 
bloody altar of hate and religious fanaticism. 

After Kaiser had been put to death, Luther 
wrote to a friend of the victim : " O, that I 
were as worthy to overcome Satan and pass out 
of this world as did our dear murdered friend ! 
Glory to God, who hath given to our unworthy 
selves these beautiful examples of his grace ! 
Kaiser has risen triumphant over the Prince 
of Darkness, and has even subjugated Death 
by his most glorious victory !" In another 
letter, dated November the first, of the same 
year, Luther writes to a friend, " This is the 
tenth anniversary of the victory over the 
Pope's absolution humbug, and we are even at 



MARTIN LUTHER. 115 

this moment appropriately celebrating that 
event." Luther closes the letter as follows : 
" So, then, we have war without and war 
within ; but Christ Jesus is with us. Our 
greatest consolation, and which we effectually 
oppose to the wrath of the powers of hell, is, 
that we have the Word of God, which saveth 
the soul even though the body be swallowed 
and destroyed in the devices of Satan. Pray 
for us, that we may continue to bear stoutly 
the cross of the Lord, and that we may con- 
quer Satan, and destroy his designs, either by 
life or by death. Amen !" 

Even as the martyr death of two other 
young followers of Luther, the monks Henry 
Voes and John Esch, at Brussels, July 1, 1523, 
inspired him to compose his first grand pean 
of the Reformation, beginning "A new Song 
to the Lord we Sing," so the trials and painful 
experiences of the year 1527, doubtless, in- 
spired the celestial muse of Luther to compose 
that grand and divinely heroic battle-hymn of 



Il6 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

the Reformation, " Eine feste Burg ist unser 
Gott," whose imperishable strains, whether 
heard in the din and roar of' battle or floating 
out upon the solemn Sabbath air from village 
church or peasant's cot, have never failed to m 
inspire the soul of the Christian with the most 
fervid emotions of religious enthusiasm. Lu- 
ther found great consolation and much of his 
poetic inspiration in the majestic and inspired 
Psalms of David. He knew them by heart, 
and always loved to quote from the music of 
this sacred Harp of Israel. The hymn al- 
luded to above, " Eine feste Burg," etc., is 
founded upon the Psalm xlvi: "God is our 
refuge and strength, a very present help in 
trouble ;" and in praise of his favorite Psalm 
(cxviii) Luther speaks in the most affectionate 
terms, even in his poetic fervor going so far as 
to personify it, thus : " Often and most faith- 
fully hath he stood by me, and released me 
from many a profound affliction when neither 
emperor, king, sage, saint, or philosopher could 



MARTIN LUTHER. 1 17 

have helped me ; therefore, he is dearer to me 
than all the wealth, honor, and power of the 
world." 

How deeply he was imbued with the olden 
spirit of the apostolic age, is apparent in an- 
other letter to a friend, in which Luther says : 
"My enemies have striven by every means in 
their power to shake my purpose, and to extir- 
pate me and mine, root and branch ; but, nev- 
ertheless, the Lord preserved me from the 
effects of their evil designs, and kept them 
within bounds. They never could carry out 
their wickedness. They can push, but not 
overthrow. They can torment, but not de- 
stroy. They can torture, but can not force. 
They can embarrass, but not prevent. They 
can show their teeth, but not devour. They 
can murder, burn, hang, and* drown, but they 
can not quench the spirit. They can rob, ex- 
pel, and confiscate, but they can not seal the 
mouth of the people. In short, they can do a 
little, but they can not fulfill their heart's 



Il8 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

desire. ' The Lord is my helper.' Who is it 
that can harm those whom the Lord protects ? 
Remember, the Word of the Lord endureth 
forever." 

Luther was a Christian hero in the apos- 
tolic sense ; thoroughly filled with the sublime 
spirit of David, Elias, and Moses ; always ris- 
ing victorious from defeat, and stronger in 
soul from every humiliation. All his plans 
and theories were founded upon what he says 
about his own work in a letter still extant : " I 
built my cause upon the written Word of God. 
With this Word, and by the aid and grace of 
Heaven, I have carried out my plan thus far; 
with this Word I have overcome all of my 
foes ; upon this Word I still survive and stand, 
and upon this Word will I go, through death, 
to my blessed Lord and Redeemer. Therefore, 
whoever would stand by the side of Christ and 
assist me in destroying the enemies of God, 
let him come." 

Prayer was the great anchor of his hope, the 



MARTIN LUTHER. 1 19 

celestial balm for every wound, the solace of 
his darkest hours, and the joy of his brightest. 
Speaking of Luther's character in this re- 
spect, a former servant of his exclaims: "How 
great was the faith, how lovely the spirit of his 
words ! I once had the happiness of hearing 
him pray, and it seemed to me as if it was 
a child fervently talking to a loving parent," 
etc. This person further states that Luther 
devoted a large portion of his time daily to 
prayer, never less than three hours. 

In 1532, Luther was much afflicted with 
vertigo, which his physicians looked upon as 
premonitory symptoms of apoplexy. In 1536, 
he was confined to his bed for a long time 
with severe neuralgia. In 1537, while attend- 
ing a convention of the Church, he was at- 
tacked with a painful disease of the bladder, 
which grew worse so rapidly that his death 
was hourly expected ; and Luther prepared 
his last will and testament. He recovered as 
by a miracle, but during the few years which 



120 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

the Lord still vouchsafed him on earth he 
was continually struggling with debility and 
disease. 

Still, in his eagerness to serve God, and in 
his desire to rescue his maltreated Church from 
the foul grasp of the Roman hierarchy, he 
could not deprive himself of the pleasure of 
devoting the ebbing moments of his laborious 
life to the vigorous defense of his cause against 
the persistent and unscrupulous assaults of his 
priestly enemies. In the years 1535, 36, 38, 
and 40, he labored upon and published revised 
editions of his German Bible. In 1541, an- 
other edition, most carefully revised by Luther 
and his most learned friends, appeared. This 
last passed through many editions, and re- 
ceived the finishing revisory touches of Lu- 
ther's pen in 1545. This edition may be con- 
sidered the normal German Bible, being the 
authorized and acknowledged Bible now in use 
in all the Protestant Churches of Germany. 

In 1543, Luther was conscious of such a 



MARTIN LUTHER. 12 f 

decrease in physical strength and of his ap- 
proaching dissolution, that, in a letter to a 
friend, he writes : " Pray for me, that I may 
die in peace ; for I have finished the labor of 
my life, and the end is near. 'We would have 
healed Babylon, but she is not healed ; forsake 
her.' (Jeremiah li, 9.)" 

Faithfully, however, did Luther continue to 
teach the living Word in sermons that had lost 
none of their force and beauty by reason of 
his bodily decay. Whenever his debility pre- 
vented him from filling his pulpit, he would 
preach at his own house to large and devout 
congregations. In this manner he preached 
up to the evening preceding the day of his 
death. All of these sermons were collected 
and published in a large volume in 1544. The 
heavenly fount of Poesie never failed in his 
heart, but retained its freshness and purity to 
the last. Still he wrote and composed the 
music to admirable devotional hymns, full of 
celestial fire, and rich with thought and poetic 



122 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

grace. Thirty-seven of these beautiful hymns 
are stil! sung with fervent appreciation by 
the Protestant congregations of the German 
Empire. 

These sacred songs, like winged evangels, 
proceeded from Luther's inspired pen, and 
visited every nook and cranny of the German 
realm ; nor could anathemas or solemn de- 
crees from ecclesiastical tribunals stay their 
glorious flight. On the lips of wandering 
" tramps,'' in the rude music of the mountain 
shepherd, or cheering the labor of the brawny 
peasant upon the harvest-field, these sacred 
strains perpetuated themselves, and became 
part and parcel of the German heart. It was 
often the case, too, that when some strolling 
monk or servile priest attempted to preach 
from the pulpit, in the rural districts, the 
worn-out and corrupt doctrines of the old 
Church, his whole congregation would com- 
mence to chant, in sweet unison, one of Lu- 
ther's grand and inspiring hymns, effectually 



MARTIN LUTHER. 1 23 

drowning the blasphemous words of the dis- 
gusted disciple of Roman superstition ; wash- 
ing him and his pollution, as it were, com- 
pletely out of the holy precincts upon the 
mighty and swelling floods of Christian mel- 
ody. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



THE DEATH OF LUTHER— HIS FUNERAL- 
SCENES AND INCIDENTS. 




N the 28th of January, 1546, Luther 
arrived at Eisleben, where he had 
gone, in spite of his feeble condition 
of health, in order to act as arbitrator in a 
difficulty into which his friend, the Earl of 
Mansfield, had fallen. During the entire pe- 
riod of three weeks which Luther was com- 
pelled to devote to this case, he felt extremely 
ill, and on the 17th of February he grew so 
much worse, that it was evident to all, as well 
as to himself, that his end had come. It was 
on this day that Luther wrote his last beauti- 
ful and well-known prayer : " My dear and 
124 



MARTIN LUTHER. 1 25 

heavenly Father! thou God and Father of our 
Lord Jesus Christ ! thou God of truth ! I 
thank thee that thou hast declared unto me 
thy beloved Son, Christ Jesus ; in whom I 
believe, whom I have preached and acknowl- 
edged before all men ; whom I have loved and 
defended; but whom the wicked Pope and his 
ungodly followers defame and persecute. I 
pray, Lord Jesus Christ, that thou wilt take 
my soul into thy gracious keeping. And O, 
my heavenly Father ! although I must lay off 
this body, and am to be taken out of this life, 
still I know that I am to remain with thee for 
evermore, and that out of thy sacred hands 
nothing can take me. Receive and accept, O 
heavenly Father, my thanks for thy everlast- 
ing love and mercy, for Christ's sake. Amen." 
When Luther had finished, in a calm, firm 
voice, the recitation of this prayer, he from 
time to time prayed in the Latin tongue ; and 
quoted . passages from the Scriptures in the 
same language. Some one at his bedside 



126 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

offered him some tonic medicines ; but he 
gently declined to take it, saying, " I am go- 
ing ; my spirit is ready to receive its eternal 
rest." A few moments later he ejaculated 
thrice, in rapid succession, the words : " Fa- 
ther, into thy hands I commend my soul ! 
Dear Lord and Master, thou art my sal- 
vation !" 

Just before the illustrious spirit fled from 
its mortal body, Dr. Jonas, who was standing 
close to him, bent over the side of the bed, 
and said to Luther : 

" Reverend father, are you willing to die in 
Christ and the doctrine as you have preached 
it to the world ?" 

Luther, in a clear voice, audible to all within 
the room, replied, " Yes." Then, drawing a 
deep breath, he expired, his hands folded upon 
his breast, without a sign of pain or tremor 
of death upon his placid features. Sweetly, 
tranquilly, as an infant drops into slumber 
upon the bosom of its mother, Luther sank 



MARTIN LUTHER. 1 27 

into the arms of the waiting angels ; hope- 
fully, gloriously, his mighty spirit divested it- 
self from the grievous shackles of mortality, 
and soared to the realms of immortal bliss. 
His death, as his life, in calm simplicity and 
the deathless grandeur of spiritual heroism, 
added to the records of the world's history 
one of its most charming pages, and placed 
in the zenith of the dark Past one of its fair- 
est and most refulgent stars. "Verily, verily, 
I say unto you, if a man keep my saying, he 
shall never see death." 

It was Thursday morning, about three 
o'clock, February 18, 1546, when Luther, the 
great Reformer, passed from earth to immor- 
tality. Let the memory of this day be kept 
fresh and hallowed in the hearts of all true 
Christians. 

Rarely did the death of any man create pro- 
founder sorrow among a people than did that 
of Luther among his countrymen, and wher- 
ever his name had become familiar throughout 



128 . HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

Christendom. Rev. Dr. Jonas, his tried and 
intimate friend, preached his funeral sermon 
in the Church of St. Andrew, in Eisleben, on 
the 19th. Luther's remains were thence taken 
to Halle on the 21st; from thence to Kem- 
berg ; and on the 22d of February they arrived 
at Wittenberg. All along the route of the 
funeral procession the church-bells tolled their 
sad requiem over the dust of the illustrious 
dead, and vast multitudes of people from all 
sections of the country thronged to see it, 
and, weeping, followed the imposing cortege. 
In the town of Halle the scene was peculiarly 
impressive ; and in Wittenberg the entire 
population turned out to receive the beloved 
ashes of their father and friend, and escort 
them to their final resting-place. Rev. Dr. 
Bugenhagen, who preached the sermon in the 
old cathedral, was repeatedly forced to stop in 
the delivery of his discourse, overcome by his 
own emotions and the loud weeping of the 
multitude gathered under the sacred roof to 



MARTIN LUTHER. 129 

pay their last tribute to the memory of Luther. 
Melanchthon, so deeply affected that his voice 
was scarcely audible, closed the solemn serv- 
ices and pronounced the benediction, where- 
upon the coffin was lowered into its destined 
vault in the immediate vicinity of the altar. 

Thus was the champion of God's truth, and 
the standard-bearer of a new era of religious 
faith, taken from the world ; but the fruit of 
his lab.or and the splendor of his priceless 
victories remain. Luther, doubtless, was the 
greatest evangelist and most successful suc- 
cessor of the apostles that the world has pro- 
duced since the close of the apostolic age, — 
like John, in his reverence and love for the 
Master; like Peter, fervent and prompt in 
action ; like Paul, learned, and profound in 
thought. Like David, he spared not, in word 
or deed, the foes of his God ; and the boldness 
and power of his tongue equaled the burning 
eloquence of Elias. He combined, in one 
person, the " speaker of tongues " and inter- 



130 . HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

preter of holy things, the prophet and the 
evangelist. 

Filled with every gift of grace ; a burning 
and a shining light; a pillar of the Church 
militant ; the prototype of a Christian hus- 
band, father, and friend, in his domestic rela- 
tions ; a master of the German language ; a 
man simple, humble, and upright in all things ; 
unsophisticated as a child, yet profoundly 
versed in the lore of the world ; indefatigable 
in the planning and accomplishment of great 
works, yet always giving God and his Re- 
deemer the honor and the praise ; persecuted, 
reviled, mocked, and despised, yet ever cheer- 
ful and resigned ; poor, yet making many 
rich, — ever blessed be the memory of this 
great and good man ! 



CHAPTER XVII. 

REMINISCENSES OF WARTBURG AND WITTEN- 
BERG. 




HE Wartburg, the scene of Luther's 



captivity, is one of the most beautiful 
and romantically situated of all the 
old German castles. It is now an appendage 
of the Grand Ducal Crown of Weimar, and a 
grand center of attraction to tourists and an- 
tiquarians from all parts of the world. Over- 
looking the gray walls and quaint steeples of 
the old town of Eisenach and a vast stretch 
of landscape which, for picturesque beauty and 
diversified natural attractions, is unexcelled in 
all the German Empire, the Wartburg holds 

fast to its proud station in the esteem of the 

131 



132 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

citizens of the Father-land. Legendary lore 
and the magic of song has wreathed the old 
mountain fortress with perennial flowers; but 
the fact that over three centuries ago it was 
the asylum of the great Reformer, Martin Lu- 
ther, his " island of Patmos," his "eyrie," and 
" hermitage," as he delights in calling his place 
of refuge, adds a brighter effulgence to the 
history of these stalwart towers, and hallows 
it as the Mecca of Germany. The Wartburg, 
under the auspices of the present Grand Duke 
of Weimar, was restored to its pristine mag- 
nificence ; this labor of love and reverence 
having been completed but a few years ago. 
All that industry and art could accomplish has 
been lavished upon the splendid edifice, and, 
like a phoenix risen from the dust and ashes 
of decay, the Wartburg, in every essential 
particular, rejoices to-day in all its ancient 
glory. 

Luther, while living in the castle, resided in 
what is called the " Ritterhaus." Here the 



MARTIN LUTHER. 1 33 

little apartment he occupied can be seen, not 
precisely as he left it when he escaped to Wit- 
tenberg, but still in a remarkable state of pres- 
ervation, it being evident that the architect in 
charge of the general restoration of the edifice 
devoted the most scrupulous attention to this 
sanctuary. The massive oaken table upon 
which Luther began his translation of the Bi- 
ble has long ago disappeared, chipped into 
myriad fragments by the knives of reckless 
relic-hunters ; but in its place now stands the 
one at which Luther was wont to sit in the 
parental homestead at Moehra. The bed in 
which he slept while stopping over night in 
Castle Gleisen, and a table from the room he 
there occupied, are also placed in the Wartburg 
room. The stove, almost as huge as a baker's 
oven, and w r hich used to cheer the musing 
monk with its grateful warmth, also stands, in 
its original vastness, in a corner of the apart- 
ment, the pieces of " kachel " of which it is 
composed having been dug out of the accu- 



134 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

mulated rubbish of the ruin. The walls are 
adorned with a portrait of Luther, from the 
celebrated brush of his intimate friend and 
contemporary, Lukas Cranach, as well as por- 
traits of his parents. An autograph letter of 
Luther's, in a handsome frame, hangs opposite 
the door. On a small book-case, filled with 
various editions of the Bible, is to be seen the 
miner's lamp of Luther's father, and to the 
right of this the little, well-worn money-box 
carried by Luther around the streets of Eisen- 
ach in his capacity as a mendicant chorister. 
A fragment of the vertebra of a whale, lying 
upon the floor, is said to have been used by 
Luther as a footstool. Upon the wall, in close 
proximity of the huge stove, is to be seen the 
celebrated " ink-spot," the dark memento of 
his marvelous encounter with the Prince of 
Evil. 

No less interesting are the souvenirs of the 
Reformer to be seen at Wittenberg ; and hun- 
dreds make pilgrimages to this shrine of Prot- 



MARTIN LUTHER. 1 35 

estantism annually. An American tourist, 
who recently visited the place, describes in a 
.graphic manner some of the most historic me- 
mentos still preserved in the venerable burgh. 

" Wittenberg still keeps its ancient walls, but, 
with its rather diminished population, still af- 
fords ample room for all her children. Ap- 
proaching the gate from the railway station, 
we notice on our right a young oak surrounded 
by a high fence, inside of which bushes and 
dead stalks of last Summer's flowers are 
standing up through the snow, while outside 
are benches and a flower-garden. On this 
spot Luther burned the Papal Bull. In order 
to assist the imagination of visitors to the his- 
toric spot, a small quantity of ashes are com- 
monly kept upon it. 

"We pass through the low, thick portal, 
pass crookedly to the left, and find ourselves 
in the principal street of the city. On the 
way to the chief hotel we pass Melanchthon's 
house and the University. Retracing our 



136 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

steps from the hotel, we come to the Augus- 
teum, or ancient domicile of the Augustine 
monks, the order to which Luther belonged. 
It is three stories high, gray with mortar and 
age, and has two rows of windows set in its 
long, retiring roof, that look down upon you 
like magnified human eyes. On the opposite 
side of the court stands the abode of the Re- 
former. Before climbing up the narrow flight 
of stairs, the guide points out a curiously 
wrought door-casing, done in stone, and says 
that Mrs. Luther had this put up during her 
husband's absence as a surprise gift for him on 
his return. We enter, and go up to the second 
floor. The stairs are old, the ante-room bleak 
and gloomy, and as fast as possible we press 
into the rooms of Luther. These are two, a 
large and a small one, but both are high. The 
larger one is where he worked and lived 
with his soft-eyed wife. The thick walls 
furnish spacious window-seats. Beside one of 
these, stands an odd-looking seat, which he 



MARTIN LUTHER. 1 37 

used in his studies. It is plain and narrow. 
I thought at first that a man of Luther's size 
would hardly find it roomy enough; but when 
the largest of our party sat down in it, my 
doubts vanished. The guide declared that 
Luther and his wife used to sit together in its 
arms. If this was so, the pretty ' Frau Doc- 
tor' must have been on her husband's knee or 
in his arms when they accomplished that feat. 
The floor is very old. Its softer portions hav- 
ing been worn away, the tougher knots stand 
out very prominently. In one corner is a 
huge stove, such as would heat a church in 
America, but which are in common use in 
German households. This stove was made in 
Eisenach, and was a gift from its citizens to 
the great preacher. On it are figures of the 
four evangelists, and other ornaments. The 
heavy table in the center of the room is a relic 
of the days of the Reformation, and you can 
easily fancy a noble group of the good and 
great men of those times leaning over it in 



I38 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

deep and earnest conversation. Ah, if it could 
only speak ! On the walls hang portraits of 
Luther, and a colored cast of his face taken 
after death. It is a pity that there is no por- 
trait of Catherine, his gentle and beloved wife. 
Here, as at Eisenach, is a huge mug whence 
he quaffed his beer. One might easily sup- 
pose that he was a greedy drinker as he looks 
at these, and such an idea has a seeming con- 
firmation in his well-known couplet : 

' Who loves not woman, wine, and song, 
Remains a fool his whole life long.' 

Of this and many other sins his enemies have 
accused him ; but it is needless to say that 
these stories are simply falsehoods. When we 
consider what a diligent toiler, in so many 
various ways, the Reformer was, we shall 
hardly find it possible that it should have been 
otherwise. The autograph of Peter the Great, 
carefully protected by a glass, is the only other 
relic in this room, and is an object of nearly 
as much interest as any thing else there. In 



MARTIN LUTHER. 1 39 

the sleeping-room there are samplers wrought 
by the hands of Catherine, autographs of Lu- 
ther, and other smaller articles in a kind of 
secretary. And this is all there is to see. 
The rest of the rooms on this floor are vacant 
and dull. 

"The University was transferred to Halle 
fifty years ago, and united with another 
there. 

" We pass out, and listen for a moment to 
the plash of the little fountain in the court, 
where Luther must have often quenched his 
thirst, and listened to the soothing melody of 
the silvery flood. We are again in the street. 
We are taking the same walk which Luther 
himself once took under very different circum- 
stances. As we go along we seem to see the 
stout form of that courageous servant of God 
moving on before us, bent upon breaking for- 
ever the chains of ancient error, and to open 
anew for the world long-sealed fountains of 
truth. His mind had been made up, his in- 



140 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

vincible will fixed, and the light of Heaven 
was shining on this path as Luther wended his 
way to Wittenberg church, for the purpose of 
nailing his sublime ' Theses ' against its portal, 
so that all the world might read. One almost 
fancies himself humming, unconsciously, his 
own valiant words as we approach the spot : 

' A mighty fortress is our God, 
A good defense and weapon.' 

"We have completed the walk, and stand 
facing the doors of the ' Schloss Kirche.' It 
was here that the famous ' Theses ' were nailed 
up by Luther's own energetic hand ; but not 
on this very door, where so fine a copy of them 
stands. The French burned a former copy, 
and with it the ancient doors. The present 
ones are of bronze, and are a gift from the 
Prussian Crown. Entering the church, we no- 
tice its long, narrow, and high aspect, with its 
ends rounding off like those of an ellipse. It 
looks clean and well kept. In the middle of 
the church, and near the door, are the graves 



MARTIN LUTHER. 141 

of Melanchthon and his greater friend stand- 
ing in the middle of the central isle, just 
where it is intersected by that which comes 
from the door. As you face the altar, Luther's 
grave will be on your right, Melanchthon's on 
your left. Large slabs of marble tell, in few 
words, who slumber beneath them. The 
church is not remarkable in itself. We step 
into the chancel, and reflect that Luther was 
often there ; we ascend the pulpit, and hear the 
guide declare that there Melanchthon once 
became confused in the midst of the sermon, 
and was forced to break off abruptly, where- 
upon Luther, who was sitting among the audi- 
ence, arose with a smile, saying, 'Come down, 
innocent lamb, and let me preach/ He 
mounted the pulpit vacated by his diffident 
friend, and thrilled the congregation with one 
of his most perfect and powerful sermons. 
But, after all, the center of attraction is by the 
two graves. We go back, talk and linger 
about them, and finally lingeringly depart. 



142 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

The church is open every Sunday for di- 
vine worship, and, the guide assures us, is 
thronged. 

"We return to the market-place, and curi- 
ously examine the statues of the immortal dead 
as they stand together there. These are of 
bronze, and are quite characteristic. Both are 
represented in their academical robes. Lu- 
ther's features are roughly kind in their ex- 
pression. On the pedestals are several of his 
pregnant sayings; as, 'If it be God's work, it 
will stand ; if it be man's work, it will perish ;' 
'Our God is a strong tower,' etc. The head 
of Melanchthon is fine and massive. Most 
of the pictures of him are devoid of ex- 
pression ; but there is a drawing in the Royal 
Library, at Berlin, wherein his face shows 
great vivacity and force. It is by Cranach. 
The splendid personal qualities of Luther 
have won him a brighter fame than his 
friend's. There is, perhaps, no more strik- 
ing example of the superiority of character 



MARTIN LUTHER. 1 43 

to great acquirements than this. In subtilty 
of mind, extent of learning, and patience, Me- 
lanchthon was doubtless superior to the other. 
But Luther was much more in sympathy with 
his time. He had also the gift of setting his 
valiant thoughts in sonorous hymns. Besides 
this was his rare art of coining his brave 
ideas and witty fancies into striking prov- 
erbs — the ready money of popular thinking. 
Now, he who is always on the lips of men 
in proverb or song can never be far from 
their hearts. Luther is alive all over Ger- 
many to-day, and Melanchthon is remem- 
bered chiefly as his friend. 

"We are musing long over these men; 
and yet we should care little for the town 
but for them. Their magnetic names drew 
our feet hither, and render it hard for them 
to depart. It would be sad, indeed, if we 
should fail to recognize that the grace of 
God made these Reformers great, or that 
duty, done at all hazards, is the only straight 



144 



HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 



road to true fame and everlasting peace. 
This, especially, is the grand lesson of Lu- 
ther's life/' 





THE LUTHER MONUMENT AT WORMS. 

(central figure.) 




CHAPTER XVIII. 



THE LUTHER MONUMENT IN WORMS. 




ORMS, the venerable and ancient city 
around whose history the memory of 
Luther has thrown its own halo of 
consecrated light, has of late become still 
more attractive to the intelligent traveler in 
Europe, by reason of the monument erected 
to the great Reformer in one of the public 
squares of the old imperial city. A minute 
description of this beautiful work of art may 
not prove altogether uninteresting. 

The whole monument rests upon a quad- 
rangular sub-structure of granite, each side of 
which measures forty feet. At each of the 
four corners of this massive foundation, upon 



10 



US 



146 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

pedestals of finely polished syenite eight feet 
in height, stands the bronze statue, eight feet 
high, of one of the most eminent and influen- 
tial supporters and promoters of the Reforma- 
tion. Facing to the front, on the left-hand side, 
is Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony ; 
upon the right-hand is Philip the Magnan- 
imous, Landgrave of Hessia ; on the rear 
corner, behind Philip, but also facing in the 
same direction, stands Philip Melanchthon ; 
and opposite, behind the Elector Frederick, 
is John Reuchlin. The front of the quadran- 
gle is open, forming an entrance thirty feet 
wide, between the statues of Philip of Hessia 
and Frederick of Saxony, into the interior 
space. 

The other three sides of the square, how- 
ever, are inclosed by an embrasured wall of 
polished syenite, between four and five feet in 
height. Out of the center of each of these 
walls, upon a seven-foot pedestal of syenite, 
and in a reclining posture, rests the figure 



MARTIN LUTHER. 147 

of a female, each of them six feet in height, 
and emblematical of the three chief Protestant 
cities of the Reformation, — Augsburg, with a 
palm-branch in her hand, in sign of peace ; 
Magdeburg, in deep mourning ; and the pro- 
testing Spire. Upon the inner face of the 
twenty-four embrasures appear the coat-of- 
arms of each of the twenty-four cities which 
fought and suffered in the cause of the Refor- 
mation, namely : Brunswick, Bremen, Con- 
stance, Eisenach, Eisleben, Emden, Erfurt, 
Frankfort-on-the-Main, Suabian Halle, Ham- 
burg, Heilbronn, Jena, Konigsberg, Leipzic, 
Lindau, Lubeck, Marburg, Memmingen, Nord- 
lingen, Riga, Schmalkalden, Strasberg, Uim, 
and Wittenberg. 

From the center of the surroundings just 
described rises the Luther monument proper. 
Upon the four abutting socles of the sixteen 
feet high and richly ornamented main pedes- 
tal, are seated four venerated pioneers of the 
Reformation, namely: the Frank, Petrus Wal- 



148 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

dus, died 1197; the Englishman, John Wyc- 
lif, died 1387; the Bohemian, John Huss, 
died 141 5 ; and the Italian, Hieronymus Sa- 
vonarola, died 1492. Towering in stately 
beauty over all, and, as it were, crowning the 
magnificent whole, stands the colossal bronze 
statue of Luther, ten and a half feet in height, 
the entire column, including the pedestal, 
reaching an altitude of twenty-seven feet. 

The main pedestal consists of three parts — 
the socle of polished syenite, the upper and 
lower cube, of unequal breadth and height, 
and composed of bronze. On each of the 
four sides cf the upper cube is inscribed some 
familiar maxim of Luther's, or trenchant quo- 
tation from his writings, as well as two medall- 
ion portraits of distinguished contemporaries 
and participants in the cause of the Refor- 
mation. 

On the front side, immediately under the 
base of Luther's statue, are to be seen those 
brave and decisive words of his, uttered in this 



MARTIN LUTHER. 149 

very place : " Here I stand ; I can not do oth- 
erwise. God help me! Amen." Below these 
lines appear the portraits of the two Saxon 
Electors, John the Firm, and John Frederick 
the Magnanimous ; the former to the left, the 
latter to the right of the observer. Upon the 
rear side of this cap-cube appears this passage 
from one of his tracts: "The Gospel, which 
the Lord gave into the mouth of the apostles, 
is his sword, with which, as with a thunder- 
bolt, he cleaveth the world." Under these 
lines are the portraits of those valiant knights 
and warriors, Ulrich von Hutten and Francis 
von Sickingen ; the former to the left, the lat- 
ter to the right of the observer. Upon the 
side, to the right of Luther, we find two of 
Luther's aphorisms : " Faith means a right- 
eous and true life in God;" and, "Truthfully 
to comprehend the Scriptures requires the 
Spirit of Christ." Under these lines are the 
portraits of Luther's faithful companions and 
colaborers in the work, Justus Jonas and John 



150 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

Bugenhagen ; the former to the left, the latter 
to the right of the observer. On the side to 
the left of Luther are the words : " Whosoever 
understandeth Christ can never be held cap- 
tive by the false statutes of man; they are 
free, not carnally, but in spirit and conscience." 
Under this quotation are the portraits of the 
two Swiss Reformers, John Calvin and Ulrich 
Zwingle ; the former to the left, the latter to 
the right of the observer. 

The lower cube of the main pedestal is or- 
namented with sculpture in basso-relievo, rep- 
resenting some of the most interesting inci- 
dents in the life of Luther. On the front face 
is Luther before the Imperial Diet at Worms, 
April 17, 18, 1 52 1. On the rear face is Lu- 
ther nailing his Theses against the church 
door in Wittenberg, October 31, 1517. To 
the right of his statue is Luther administer- 
ing the Lord's-supper, and Luther's wedding. 
To the left is the Bible translation, and Luther 
preaching. 



MARTIN LUTHER. 151 

The substructure, or socle, shows upon its 
four sides the coat-of-arms of the five German 
sovereigns and two cities who signed the Con- 
fession of Augsburg, and formally presented 
the memorable document to the emperor, at the 
Diet held in Augsburg June 25, 1530; namely, 
Saxony, Anhalt, Brandenburg, Hessia, Bruns- 
wick-Liineburg, and the cities of Nurem- 
berg and Reutlingen. Upon the broad belt 
encircling the base of the pedestal under the 
bas-reliefs is the following inscription : " Be- 
gun A. D. 1836. Finished A. D. 1868. De- 
signed and in part completed by E. Rietschel. 
Architectural designs by H. Nicolai. Cast and 
enchased at Lauchhammer. ,, 

Rietschel, the famous sculptor, who died 
February 21, 1861, himself modeled the stat- 
ues of Luther and Wycklif, while three pupils 
of this renowned master — Donndorf, Kietz, 
and Schilling — furnished the models for the re- 
maining statues and bas-reliefs. The massive 
granite work was done at Baireuth. 



152 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

The entire square in which the monument 
is situated is inclosed with a handsomely or- 
namented iron railing. 

The idea of a Luther monument sprang 
spontaneously from the loyal heart of the 
German > people ; and the fund to defray the 
cost of its erection was contributed from every 
city, town, village, and hamlet throughout the 
German Father-land. It is a nation's memo- 
rial tribute to one of its greatest benefactors 
and most illustrious children. In point of art 
it stands unexcelled by any similar work of 
ancient or modern times, and is certainly the 
most costly and magnificent public monument 
in Germany, and in every way worthy of the 
genius and patriotism of its people. 

The inauguration of the monument, and the 
festivities incident to the occasion, took place 
during the 24th, 25th, and 26th days of June, 
1868. For impressiveness, grandeur, and en- 
thusiasm, the affair has never been excelled, 
and thousands of curious visitors from all 



MARTIN LUTHER. 153 

parts of the world were attracted to the scene. 
Those who were present will remember the in- 
auguration of the Luther Monument in Worms 
as one of the grandest, demonstrations of mod- 
ern times. The city, which is three-fourths 
Catholic, was overwhelmed by a visitation of 
one hundred thousand people, and had to 
overflow into all the neighboring towns and 
villages, after taxing its own hospitality to the 
utmost. The German enthusiasm for the great 
hero fairly obliterated for the time the distinc- 
tion of Catholic and Protestant, and all joined 
in doing honor to a man who is universally 
recognized, not only as the author of the Ref- 
ormation, but as the father of German liter- 
ature, and one of the grandest spirits of mod- 
ern times. 

The King of Prussia took the leading part 
in the ceremonies, assisted by princes and em- 
inent men from all parts of Europe. When 
the monument was delivered to the city au- 
thorities, it was a Catholic Mayor who repre- 



154 HISTORICAL SOUVENIRS. 

sented the city, and accepted the national gift 
in its behalf. His speech was a singular proof 
how much the spirit of strife and animosity- 
yielded to humane and national considerations 
on this auspicious occasion. It commemo- 
rated, in the most striking and eloquent terms, 
the services which Luther's moral courage and 
genius rendered to the German race and to 
mankind, when he stood upon his right of 
conscience before the emperor and the Papal 
power, and declared that he could not and 
would not retract the principles of religious 
freedom and reform which he inculcated, and 
in defense of which he was willing to offer 
his life as a sacrifice. 

All honor to Germany for this public evi- 
dence of the catholicity of spirit which so no- 
tably pervades its glorious people, and which, 
we trust, will prove the happy augury of the 
near approach of that anxiously expected time, 
when Christendom, in undivided phalanx, shall 
triumph over the enemies of God wherever 



MARTIN LUTHER. 155 

found, and in heavenly harmony shall together 
sing the gloria anthem of Universal Peace. 

As for Luther, and the fruitful and splendid 
lessons of his life, emblemized in the rare 
bronze and stone of the Worms Monument, 
we can say, in the beautiful language of the 
poet, that he became 

" A name Earth wears forever next her heart ; 
One of the few that have a right to rank 
"With the true makers ; for his spirit wrought 
Order from Chaos ; proved that right divine 
Dwelt only in the excellence of Truth ; 
And far within old Darkness' hostile lines 
Advanced and pitched the shining tents of Light." 




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